SEPTEMBER 2008

9-30-08:  The video that was on YouTube that I linked to, that got pulled... we have a new version. Here it is.

Thanks to all those that gave us the heads up on it.

Here is another good one.

And there is a great article about this situation for those not into Youtube.

I have been taking closer and closer looks as the rifle scopes from Burris. They have a Tactical version of the Fullfield II, in Olive Green... it's a 4.5-14x42mm unit. Very clear and bright... good glass. Retails for only 449.99 USD. After checking it out in detail and putting it up against other scopes in this price range... this one is a winner. Damn fine scope and if I didn't have my PFI I'd put this one on my Remington XCR Tactical.

I was told the other day that "because of my limp and snarky attitude, that I am the house of the gun industry". A couple other guys listening laughed at this and I just walked away, not getting this and wondering if I owed someone a beating. Before I intercepted the fellow outside and throwing him a smackdown, I decided to ask someone. Someone full aware of cultural references... So I asked Larry.

“Dude, you haven't seen House? It's a TV show about doctors. Hugh Laurie plays a doctor named House. He's crippled from an accident and walks with a cane. His Snark-Fu is strong. Very strong. He's just mean to everybody. I would take that as a compliment.”

Ah... okay... I get it. Er... When does this show come on?  Damn, I guess I am doing it wrong.. because was I try to be more like Dr. Cox from Scrubs.

Alaska. Mrs Ogre and I are thinking about a relocation to Alaska. I don't have any solid job offers from Alaska, but some have come my way and the idea was tempting for me, but not for me and my family. Ogre's don't leave family behind, so I always just turned any job offer down. Well, I was talking to my Beloved, and she says that she would love to move up there. Huh? Really? Are you serious? She assured me that she was. Now I'm wishing I hadn't turned down those offers. So if you are looking to hire an ogre in Alaska and have a decent package to offer, hit me. I want to see just how serious Mrs. Ogre is about moving to Alaska. Would I really move my family to Alaska?  I might.

Hunting Africa: Our friend from South Africa has been chatting me and Travis up about going on a hunting trip to South Africa next year. Pondering the possibilities there is a fun way to day dream. I took a short trip to SA some years ago and visited an area northwest of Pretoria. At the time, South Africa was one fucked up country. Mark tells us that it still is, but much less so than before. So I am torn. I have a lot of hunting options for next year... and with Mark as our hunting guide, SA might just be the least expensive option. The most spendy part of hunting South Africa is the flight there and back again. Mark also warns that I need to develop my Afrikaner accent or I'd be getting ripped off left and right. Now, I am pretty good and blending in. I can put on a number of accents well enough to pass as a local. Scottish, Irish, British, Australian, New Yorker, and Southern with dialects from Georgia, Virginia, and Texas... but I can't do Afrikaner. Yet. I'll have to practice that one.

Anyway, when I go to South Africa and hunt, it would be for Plains Game and none of the Big Five that so many hunters dream of. I have no interest in cape buff. I have no interest in killing an Elephant. Why would I want to? It's a target the size and speed of a moderately spry houseboat.  No... I want to hunt springbuck, kudu, impala, eland, blesbuck, gemsbuck... and maybe a zebra... some baboon, and maybe a big african cat... but not a lion. I want to hunt all of that with my 7mm Rem Mag. And I want to do it all with one factory loading... because I think it could do it brilliantly... The Hornady 154 grain SST load.

9-29-08:  WTF happened today: For those that don't know, mainly by now because the video I posted yesterday has been removed by YouTube, let me catch you up. The Democrats are to blame for the financial mess America has gotten in to. Because they pushed Fannie Mae and Freddy Mack to make even more loans to those who shouldn't have gotten loans. High Risk loans, which the industry so cleverly calls “Sub Prime”. Don't want to offend the Poor, you see. Well, with eased credit restrictions, more risk was taken. A lot of risk was taken. And when they didn't take enough risk, the likes of Barack Obama sued Fannie Mae into making more loans at even greater risk. This pushed housing markets into higher prices. On top of the higher prices and inflated values... we got higher gas prices. Again, thanks to the democrats blocking energy development and generally being the moronic assholes that they are. When gas prices got too high, the poor suddenly lost the ability to pay the mortgage. These risks that were taken suddenly turned sour and the housing industry just took a giant shit. This also pulled the credit industry down with it. The Democrats then penned a chunk of legislation designed to “help”. They worked a little bit with some Republicans so they can call the effort Bi-Partisan and got some 60 to 64 or so Republicans to actually agree to it... then when everything looked great, Nancy Pelosi shit-canned the whole thing and as a result of Nancy Pelosi's bullshit, the stock market tanked hard and America lost something over a Trillion Dollars. Then Nancy Pelosi blamed the Republicans, because Nancy Pelosi doesn't give a shit about America – only caring for keeping the Democrats, and herself, in power. Because in her twisted mind, it's all Bush's fault. Look guys, America runs, not on gold or cash... but on Credit. And without it, America is screwed. The Democrats control Capitol Hill. The House and the Senate... all of Congress. They could have passed this with or without any Republican help or hindrance... but instead of helping the country – they flushed it just so they have a something else to blame the Republicans for. It's quite literally shooting themselves in the foot just so they can scream that it's the Republicans fault for giving them then, even though the Dems took the gun out of the Republican's hands. Because of this bullshit gaming, America is in a deep hurt that we don't even fully grasp yet. In one day, the Democrats set back the American economy at least a year. Many Americans have lost their shirts today. Many Americans have suffered financial losses greater than Katrina and Ike put together could have done. I'm getting reports from people who are completely ruined because of Nancy Pelosi. Mrs Speaker of the house had the power to totally trash a large portion of the American Dream, and she did it. Because she is an evil, spiteful bitch. We needed something to happen today. And it didn't happen. Regardless of what you believe about The Bailout, all of America is suffering now. I point the finger at Nancy Pelosi.

The Democrats like to say that their policies pulled us out of the Great Depression... caused by the stock market crash. Like the crash the Democrats caused today. Except that the crash that happened today is much worse than the crash that happened back in the 30's... and the Democrats didn't pull us out of it. WWII pulled us out of it.

We are completely fucked.

And the Democrats have the unmitigated gall to blame Republicans for this.

My outrage is complete. I can't even speak on this anymore.

The video I posted yesterday was pulled, but here is an explanation of what it showed.

Blow Out: This is on a personal note now. I was on the way to work this morning... drinking my Irish Blend Monster Java, listening to some country song about a girl that doesn't even know her own name... when all the sudden I felt the Contour shudder and heard a rapid series of bangs. The car then suddenly gave me a huge helping of yaw. That means the car instead of pointing in the direction I was traveling, suddenly pointed to a hard left, while I was going straight. I tried for a brief moment to juggle my Irish Blend, as I was at the same time giving the steering wheel some opposite lock. I felt the left side of the car start to lift, but because I threw the wheels hard to the right, I was able to keep the car shiny side up. I had been going over 70MPH and it could have rolled right there. Considering the large tractor trailer rigs in the area, this could have been very bad. Very bad indeed. I came within a fraction of an inch, of not just rolling, but rolling into the grill of a tractor trailer rig hauling acid. I would have been dead. Like, slasher-horror show dead. I had the shakes for damn near 2 hours... I haven't had such a close call in YEARS. There is a lot of ways I could check out... but that isn't a way I want to go.

So... once into town... and calmed down... my boys at my favorite tire shop hooked me up and took care of my car and I got a great deal on the tires I needed. No, I didn't go with eco wonders... Got me some good and grippy performance tires again, because, well.. I like my tires to grip the road as much as possible.

So, from one crash avoided to one crash that hit square on the nose... Today has sucked.

9-28-08: Hordeman and former USAF vet Dutch Schipper sends us the most clear and concise explanation of how the Democrats and Obama screwed our entire nation.  Be warned, this might cause your head to explode.

9-27-08:  It's a glaring statement of the obvious to say that pretty much every problem in the USA right now is the fault of Democrats.

The energy crisis. The Dumb Dems have blocked energy exploration and development at almost every single turn. And now we have a problem because of it.

The economic crisis and the housing market crisis. The Dumb Dems blocked regulation of Fanny and Freddy years ago on fear that it would hurt the poor and keep people homeless... now homeowners are being evicted from their homes, and the credit industry is falling apart... because the Dems were afraid of regulation... and now they want “More Oversight”.

Even the war in Iraq. The Dems were the ones rattling their sabers before the war started, calling for an attack on Iraq... then they voted for it... then they limited it as much as possible and publicly called it a lost cause before ever even letting out boys get up to speed over there. This is why the war effort has dragged on... this is because of Demholes like Harry Reid, who have worked tirelessly to subvert our war efforts.

And still people think it's a good idea to vote for Democrats. One thing is for sure... come November, America will get what we deserve. We either pull out heads out and get McCain and Palin in office, or we are going to be rolling down the shitter like runaway freight train.

9-25-08:  Drumming Out: The Marines used to have a tradition called Drumming Out. When a Marine did something stupid, and was, under the UCMJ, found guilty of conduct unbecoming, and was kicked out of the Marine Corps... they did a little Drumming Out ceremony. Not to honor the ex-marine. They would have a formation and assemble the troops. They would read th ex-marine's name while he stood before them at attention. Someone would read the charges and the conviction as the UCMJ found, then the assembled troops in formation would about face, and turn their backs to the ex-marine. Then they would march the ex-marine out of the area to the sound of a slow drum beat. If you listen, you can hear the drums... as I de-link THR. I am turning my back on THR. Until that time that Oleg or others assure me that Oleg is in 100% full control of THR and all that entails and that hosting is moved and backstabbing staff that supported the mutiny are removed... then we would be happy to return. Until that time... listen to the drums...

The Presidential Debates: Obama brings up the typical class warefare bullshit, shows his fundamental failure to understand that Corporations never pay taxes – the consumers do, and made remarks sounding sounding like he doesn't give a shit about high gas prices, because gas is killing us – as he said. Obama doesn't understand that we need gas to drive to work... because Obama's constituents don't go to work. McCain on the other hand said something that I liked very much... he talked about how he has cut pork spending in the past – which is all true – and that he fully intends to cut more spending. That is what we need. Obama remains a full blown useless idiot. I'll let other bloggers fisk the debate. I have no interest in doing that. Instead, I'll talk about some guns.

The Remington 798. These are the Serbian made Mausers imported by Remington. Today, I put together a nice package for a customer. A Remington 798 in 7mm Rem Mag topped with a Vortex scope. The 798's have a good exterior finish, in a nice polished blue. The interior finish is a bit lacking... but over time, with years of use, I think these 798's would wear in beautifully. Some have reported less than satisfactory accuracy. I don't doubt that, but I also don't know anyone that knows what they are doing having fired more than 100 rounds through it. An average production grade barrel doesn't wear in until about 250 rounds. This was something I pointed out at LRI during the course, and our new friend Matt's Weatherby Vanguard showed just that after he fired about 275 rounds... all the sudden it was grouping almost twice as tight as before. I think these 798's would do the same. And after that many rounds, the action would be slick as warm butter. Give it a trigger job? Absolutely, it could use it. Full retail on the 798 was 599.99... another 400 bucks you could get a new custom barrel, a few more bucks and you could have that barrel trued up and installed by a good gunsmith. Inlet the stock for the new barrel. And what do you have? You have a tack driving custom Mauser. That would make for one seriously fine custom rifle. I like to think of these 798's as the 1911's of the rifle world... a great platform for all sorts of custom mods. This is the perfect tinkerer's rifle.

In short, I would love one myself. Here's what I'd do. Put on a custom match grade bull barrel and a second sling swivel to mount a Harris 9-13” bipod. I'd have a Weaver Rail mounted across the top of the receiver. Build up a good cheek pad, cover it in leather so it looks good... and then top that with an 8-32 Nightforce scope with the MLR reticle. The caliber would be 7mm Rem Mag.

Funny how the stock market surged on the news that Sen. Kennedy went into the hospital. Just an observation.

The Taurus Judge: I'm still not really sure what the actual utility of the Taurus Judge is. Willy has one and I shot it. It does produce huge grins... I couldn't help but to smile because of it. It's a fun revolver... shooting .410's... waay fun.

9-25-08:  Until THR is fully restored to Oleg, I suggest all THR members to shun it and not give Derek what he wants... which is for everything to continue and no one questioning his back stabbing. Everyone should turn to THR's parent forum, TheFiringLine.com.  Especially THR's staff who support Oleg's position.  For those that can't post at TFL, you are welcome at ON. Don't even visit THR... don't give Derek the traffic. But give Oleg all the support that you can.

9-24-08:  High Treason and Douchebaggery in the Online Firearms Community: Derek Zeanah, one of the many volunteer assistants to Oleg Volk in assisting Oleg in keeping up TheHighroad.org. Derek has pirated TheHighroad.com, registered it in his name, in effect stealing it from Oleg. And he refuses to give it back. He has also locked out all other Administrators from even being able to manage the site. Oleg is taking immediate legal action, as is right. No matter what Derek's grievance is... I don't care what it is... TheHighRoad.org is Oleg's and Derek volunteered to be a systems administrator. Oleg owes him nothing. As he owes me nothing... Derek volunteered. Oleg owes nothing to anyone familiar with TheHighRoad.org. But we who have enjoyed THR, we owe Oleg. Please support Oleg's legal battle. I would also ask Derek to Stop Being A Douchebagging Thief, and to give THR back to Oleg ASAP.

Pepper Popper: Kimber has a less than lethal pepper spray device called the “LifeAct”... and they have recently changed the name to something... but the device is the same. It is a Two Shot, pyrotechnic fired, pepper agent dispenser. Mace, Pepper Spray... we've all seen these things and some guys have said (Guys that work for Kimber) that the Kimber produce is the hottest, hardest hitting, most effective pepper spray thing ever. We have a new employee at the Gun Shop and we now call him “Trigger” because of a little incident that happened while I was at LRI. Trigger takes the LifeAct out of the case, looks at it, points it at his face, and pulls the trigger. Trigger is hit with the 90+ MPH blast of pepper spray directly in the face at a range of about 2 feet max. As a certain TV chief would say, “BAM!” There was only one customer and one other employee at the gun counter at the time. Both guys froze solid. Trigger calmly put the Kimber pepper popper back into the case and as cool as he could, walked to the bathroom for some personal time. As soon as Trigger's back was turned, the employee and the customer were consumed in laughter. Oh, it's funny as hell. Breaking all 4 rules of firearm safety, I would think Trigger should have been fired for such stupidity... but we tend to thing he learned his lesson and got a dose of karma with his pepper spray. We now all call him Trigger, and he is going to live with that name – forever. Anyways. I have a huge problem with this. Not that Trigger is still working the gun counter... but that Trigger was able to calmly put the device back into the case, and walk away as if nothing happened. That is what I have a problem with. This device is supposed to be a Self Defense tool. This device is supposed to stop a violent attacker. Trigger should have been rolling on the floor, screaming in pain and agony, and the other employee should have had to call for EMS support and transport to a hospital. The Kimber is supposed to be the hottest shit on the market... and it didn't do crap. If Trigger was an angry, motivated, hostile threat – having taken a direct blow square to the face – he would not have been stopped if he wanted to hurt anyone. If this is the best pepper spray crap on the market – and Trigger, who is not the toughest of individuals – was not stopped by it... what does this tell us about any pepper spray? If this one failed to stop Trigger, what is your spouse's pepper spray going to do to a motivated, evil thug attacking her?  This is a huge failure.

If you want a Kimber for self defense, get one of the .45 ACP Kimbers.

9-23-08:  Email from FORSCOM: “Oh wise and field-smart Ogre, Your advice to a deploying Marine on compact Binos was spot on. Something else conspicuously missing from TA-50 for a lot of joes, including combat arms guys, is a suitable cutting tool. OIF began with Bayonets being issued and is winding down without them. In fact, the only dedicated cutting tool is the Benchmade seatbelt cutter/ rescue hook. Sure, everyone has an expensive/or at least quality folder, a few have expensive fixed blades. My question would be, what do you think is really needed? I've seen more than a few situations where a handy blade saved they day...but they were all personally owned knives. Should any fixed blade replace the bayonet? Thanks. - Captain Chad”

It's about damn time the Department of Defense acknowledges my position as sage. Ahem. Anyways. There are three things every new soldier should be given. First is a good pair of running shoes. Upon completion of Boot Camp, they should be given a side arm and a knife. The sidearm should be a 1911 .45 with improved sights and such as is in vogue with 1911 Gunners. The second is a nice fixed blade knife, about 6 inches in blade length. These should be part of the Uniform. Screw the cost of the weapons and the training... This should be the most basic weapon level and every solider should be expected to know how to use the damn things. The Marines have the right attitude... Every Marine a Rifleman. That's the way to be. In the Army there are so many specialties and most do not require the use of small arms. Infantry AIT is the only advanced small arms training, and even that is rather limited. Pop up moving targets to 300 meters is great, but the attitude is that if it's farther than that, you call in ordinance on it. Marines shoot to 500 meters. Again, they have it right. While I specified the pistol, I have not specified the knife. Let me through out an example of the type of knife. The Cold Steel SRK. That's just one suggestion. There are too many good options to list, and I wont even try... but the SRK is an example of the type of knife that should be universally issued. The blade is of good material, coated, sharp, and it should be worn in a location that is always easily accessible to the wearer – at all times. It doesn't need a saw blade on the back spine. It doesn't need a fancy pattern. It just needs a good sharp edge and a good solid non-slip grip. Done. Folding knives, I think those are great, but the DOD can leave that up to the individual to acquire after boot at the local base PX. They can get anyone they want, wear it with the pocket clip. That's fine. It is well known that our soldiers are soft targets at home, because they are always unarmed. This is why we had a terror plot against FT. Bragg, was it? It would have been grim because no one packs heat save for the specific guards on duty. It isn't allowed. That's bullshit. Bayonets are indeed out of style... as are ranks of Musketeers firing in volley. But the knife is always still useful for other purposes from food prep to building up camo on your LP/OP... and as one soldier in Iraq found – for cutting fools.

I'm not just impressed with the .22-250 cartridge, I'm really impressed with it... especially out of a heavy barreled Savage rifle. My Savage, which is now sporting a Nikon Monarch instead of it's original Leupold Vari-X III, is an extremely good shooting rifle. The Monarch has been well blooded now, having gone out into the desert and have taken plenty of varmints. The round that shoots the best is the Hornady 55 Grain Moly V-Max load. It shoots nice tight clusters, and it shoots right where I want – every time. The more I shoot Savage, the more I am taken with them. I still don't like the action, but I can't argue with the results... Savages are flat out shooters. And this one has been since day one. Willy and I went out and crawled the desert in his Jeep looking for critters to kill. We didn't find any. Areas that he had hunted before, years ago, we found nothing. Areas where Ranger and I used to hunt rabbits – areas that had been thick with rabbits – not a one could be found. We ended up coming back to the Buckskin Hills Range, where from the rifle range's benches, you can overlook a large Prairie Dog Town and we turned it into a ghost town. Willy was shooting 55 grain FMJs from his AR... and I was shooting those 55 grain V-Max bullets. He nailed one dog square in the side, total side on shot, and the dog ran about 20 feet and started thrashing about. FMJ's pierced it, but didn't do a whole lot of wounding. Sure the dog died after a minute of thrashing about, and it was grim... but the performance was as expected... minimal. This is what the military fires. The 55 grain V-Max from the .22-250 was a real slayer. If I could connect with it, that dog was done. The expansion tended to turn the dog's entrails, into “extrails”. Just opened them up Jack the Ripper style and eviscerated the suckers, from 100 yards out to 400 yards. One dog I hit in the ass, the thing was sent up in the air like it was thrown from a small trebuchet. Dayum.

So to sum it up... if you want a deadly serious Varmint Sniper, get a heavy barreled Savage .22-250 and you will not be disappointed. I sell a lot of rifles, come to think of it... and every so often we get a complaint regarding accuracy. Not with Savages. At 100 yards, mine is doing about a quarter inch group with the 55 grainers. 40 grainers open the group up to about a half an inch. Sure they are faster and make a bigger mess, but I would rather have the accuracy.

I was also quite pleased with the Nikon Monarch. It did a fantastic job and gave me no grief. Very bright, very clear, and allowed the gun to be very accurate. When the Leupold comes back, its going to go on the shelf and wait for some other rifle to go on... it isn't going on this one again.

What an enjoyable day hunting critters.  I had a blast, Willy had a blast, and lots of varmints got blasted... what more can one ask for?

I sent an email to Travis at Magpul Dynamics about a CRT stock. Last time I fired my SIG 556, I had the stock collapse and it dang near broke my nose. The CRT stock is a simple multi position stock, but the mechanism is different, and it's protected from an accidental collapse. Taking the SIG out again today, I had found that the Holosight's batteries have pooped out on me. Normally this would be no big deal, but unfortunately they pooped out when I needed them, after I failed to check the batteries before I took it out, and had no spares. 3 Strikes. My bad. I owe The Horde 20 pushups... which I have already pumped out before you have read this one. 1, 2, 3, ONE! 1, 2, 3, TWO! Always, Always, Always pack spare batteries! Lesson learned.

9-20-08:  The Factory Range Day was fantastic. Lots of vendors had guns out and people got to come out, and actually shoot all the guns they wanted to try out. Small cost associated with ammunition, but you could come out, and just for the price of a few rounds, shoot damn near anything you want. The .460 S&W Magnum was a huge hit. As was the .50 BMG. But people also loved trying out the guns they had actually been thinking about buying. Out here, that doesn't happen. This is a good day for us... tons of people came out. We were hopping all day. All Day. Instead of saying who came, it's easier to say who didn't come. S&W, Taurus and Ruger, and of course, Kimber... who doesn't do this sort of thing. Well, those guys missed out. Because we didnt have any guns that didn't get shot... Getting people to actually try your product is one thing, getting them to go into the store and buy one is another. It's easier to get them to buy something if they are familiar with the product a bit. Shooting a gun is how this is done in this industry. SIG and Springfield capitalized on this. Monday, SIG's and Springfields are going to be going out the door like crazy.

This was too much time on the range for me. I felt beat up. Morning to Afternoon, constant shooting. Headache, feet hurt, knee hurts. It was a long day. A good day, but a long day.

I only got swept with a .50AE Desert Eagle once. A lady wanted to shoot it. I loaded only one round for her to start out with. One round only. And it was a good thing. Because after she fired... she got excited, and with finger still on the trigger, swept me across my chest. I grabbed the gun and no one got hurt. Yeah. If I had loaded more than one round... it could have been bad. Everyone else though was very careful and we had a good day of Gun Safety... no one bled. The girl in question was reeducated and got back into shooting and she did just fine... she shot a lot, learned a lot, and she even had a good time. The Anti-Gunners can blow me.

9-19-08:  I was talking with a customer at the shop today... a good guy who really wants to be serious with his shooting. To make a long story short, he wanted to swap off the Nikon Monarch he has on rifle and upgrade it with a Zeiss Rapid Z. Nice choice, okay, we can do that. Then he says, “you can have the Nikon”. SCORE! THANK YOU! Since my Leupold went tits up, I was wondering what I was going to do with it. Well, the Nikon Monarch 5.5-16.5 is now on my Savage. I'll zero it tomorrow and get it dialed in. Should be pretty damn good. It's an older Japan made Monarch.

The biggest mistake that I see people make when they are trying to zero a scope, is trying to conserving ammo. They thing they are breaking a clean shot, so they fire one round, adjust the scope, fire another round, adjust the scope, etc. They end up chasing the bullet holes and end up shooting a lot more ammo than they would have otherwise fired. Don't do that. Be smart and fire a 3 to 5 round group. Find the center of that group and count your distance in clicks of your turret. ¼ MOA clicks mean 4 clicks per inch at 100 yards. Don't try to shortcut this process... Take your time. In the end you can zero the scope in 6 to 10 rounds if you are thoughtful about it. If you do it the right way, you do conserve ammo. I've seen guys walk away from the range with their guns not being zeroed because the shooter has run out of ammo because he was chasing his bullet holes. Don't chase individual shots.

FACTORY RANGE DAY at the Buckskin Hills range. Weatherby, Nikon, Savage, Burris, Remington, Marlin, HK, CZ, FN... and others... all will be there with goodies for people to try out. We have catering out there too. This will be good times. You don't want to miss this!

9-18-08:  Interesting person came into the shop today. Civilian wearing a handcuff case at his back on his belt, empty holster on his hip. Walked and talked like he was supposed to be a badass. Looked like a dick. Said he was an Army Sniper, attached to the Marines, used a Springfield Hathcock and was at the Blackwater battle in Najaf. Wow. Really? Must have been intense. Considering I spent a few days with a former Blackwater guy that was really there... who described the whole event step by step... who was there, who fucked up, and who was there but couldn't do shit (Spain)... He failed to mention an Army Sniper with a Hathcock assigned to work with the Marines. Also with all the videos of the fight and all the photos out there... funny he never showed up in any of them. Ah... yeah... That's enough. I had to go to lunch.

Lunch at the range, served up some SubMoa. How does a 2 inch shot group at 400 yards sound? Tasty. I am digging this XCR Compact Tactical. The PFI scope continues to impress me, just wish it was a 4-12 variable instead of a 3-9, but the 3-9 does kick some ass. The dope I have for my scope at certain ranges is way off from what I had recorded at LRI. This is interesting. Does this mean my dope is wrong? Nope. It means the ranges we thought we had are incorrect. These known ranges are now in question. Since we can't laze all the targets because of the nature of our targets... I'm going to have to park a truck at the firing line, and go out and laze the truck from each target, and then sort out my dope from there. This is what a Data Book is for... to record this sort of information and track it so you know what your rifle has done in the past and with that you can expect it to do in the future. In this case, I'd draw a range card and in that, note my scope dope for each target. Environmental variables will change through the year, but it does give us a baseline.

I was asked if would sell my XCR/PFI gun. Are you kidding? I have an 800 yard Max Point Blank. That comes in handy.

9-17-08:  Shitting the Bed: LRI showed us a few interesting things. One being, scope failures. We had a number of scopes shit the bed at the LRI course. We had a Burris crap out on one individual. We had two Leupold Mk IV Tacticals go down. I had a Leupold Vari-X III fail me... luckily it was zeroed when it stopped adjusting so it's stuck... but where I needed it anyways. So I'll deal with that later. Does this mean Burris and Leupold scopes wont hold up? Not hardly. Anecdotal evidence is just observations regarding one scope on one gun and you don't know what may have happened to the scope before the failure. I have seen these scopes on other guns go through hell and back. Eventually, every scope will fail. That's just going to happen. It's only a matter of time. My Vari-X III is an ancient early example of the breed. It's been fired more than any scope should have to endure.. and it's still shooting. Hell, I killed 4 prairie dogs with it on my lunch break after I zeroed another gun. One thing that can lead to an early failure of a scope, is improperly mounting. The rings and scope have to be aligned perfectly or you get uneven pressure and stress through the tube. There are lots of very subtle factors at play here... but they amplify each other during recoil. Another thing that can lead to a failure is environmental stresses. Are you leaving your scoped rifle in your trunk during the heat of the day, then shooting the hell out of it? Do you thing that scope will live a long life like that? We can't control the process of manufacture or the quality control that went in to your individual scope... but we can control how we treat it. Your scoped rifle is a precision instrument... you have to treat it as such.

Check this out... the perfect rifleman's data book. I like that. I'll have to order one, one of these days.

I'm starting to really groove on the .300 WSM cartridge. And by that I mean that I'm liking it more than the classic .300 Win. And I'm really not a fanboy of the .30 caliber. But the .300 WSM stands apart from the .30 crowd. Here is why... it gives you the same performance as the classic, but with more accuracy, and will less recoil. The other day I zeroed two 300's. A heavy wood .300 Win, and a light synthetic stocked .300 WSM. The WSM cut the center dot out of the target at 100 yards. The Win scattered the rounds around the dot – close, but it didn't cut it out. Same barrel lengths, using Federal 180 grain loads. The WSM proved to be much more consistent, and my shoulder tells me that the 20% less felt recoil is a tangible difference. Okay, granted the WSM was a Browning A-Bolt II and the Win was a Vanguard... but this same pattern of recoil and accuracy has been repeated before... again... and... again.

.308 observation:  I zeroed another XCR Compact Tactical today and in doing so I tried a couple different loads. Basic Remington brand verses basic Winchester brand. The Winchester kicked the crap out of the Remington stuff. And here I was thinking the Winchester stuff was inconsistent. That Remington stuff is only useful to get you brass to reload with.

Factory Range Day. This Saturday from 10 to 4, we have a bunch of gun makers coming out to show off their hardware... not just a show, because I know there is a gun show out in SLC that day too... no... this is a Gun Try. You can actually SHOOT THE GUNS here. If you can get out here for this, it should be an awesome good time.

9-16-08:  LRI Course Gear Observations: Dimitri was a genius when he busted out elbow and knee pads... and then a saint when he let me use them to help my busted knee. I think brining knee and elbow pads is a great idea... and I would recommend bringing them. Since you spend a great deal of time in the prone, bring a pad of some sort to lay on.

The Remington XCR Compact Tactical performed very well... but it wasn't perfect. First thing I had to get done was to build up a check rest. This allowed me to be more consistent with my positioning. I had a hard time loading the 4^th round in the magazine. Sometimes it would load #4 with no problem, other times, it would jam it up and you would have to dump all the rounds. The good trigger got better as the class went on. The PFI RR800-1 scope was brilliant. I really like this scope, and I really like this rifle/scope combination. The accuracy potential is impressive. The yardage marks in the scope made hitting much easier. You still have to find your range, calculate your wind... and your scope will tell you where to hold for the shot. Because you zero this scope for 100 yards, and the one hundred yard line is so high, it is a little different holding the gun on that mark... you naturally want to hold for 400 yards, the center of the reticle. But don't do it... hold where PFI suggests and you will be DNO... Dead Nuts On. That is, you will be DNO if you bring ammunition that falls withing PFI's suggested performance range.

Unfortunately I brought the wrong ammo for the task at hand. I brought with me Winchester Super-X 150 grain cartridges. Here is what I learned. The rate of twist is not good for 150 grainers. Winchester Super-X loads are inconsistent. This is a statement that I make in the same tone as saying getting kicked in the balls hurt. It's not just obvious, to you, but it's obvious to all those around you. The ballistic coefficient of these soft points are horrible. They have roughly the same drag as a Pontiac Aztec with the parking brake on. They bleed energy to the point that after about 500 yards, the bullets hardly any mark on the steel plates we were shooting at. You will want to use heavier bullets, and you will want those loads to be Match Grade... regardless of weapon or caliber. If you can't get Match ammunition, get the next best thing.... and by that I mean not ammunition from Remington or any Winchester White or Silver boxes. Get Hornady. If not Hornady TAP, then Hornady Custom. If you can't get Hornady, then Black Hills. If you can't get Black Hills, then get Federal Premium or Federal Fusion. These rounds have higher BC's than others, and more importantly are loaded more consistently. Don't skimp on your ammo, get the best you can. Not just that, but get a lot of it. I went through damn near 400 rounds. That's a lot. If you reload, pay extra attention to your loading and craft each cartridge with the utmost attention to detail, using the best components... and make sure they work in your set up.

Now, the ammunition that I used was different from PFI's suggestion, but it worked quite well. At 100 yards, I zeroed for the 100 yard mark. At 200 yards, the scope was DNO. At 300 yards, this is where the ballistics departed from PFI's ranges and to hit at 300 I held for 275 yards. So I found my Dope for 300. Write that down in your data book.
Did I mention your data book? Bring a new one to this class... and consider starting from scratch if you already have one you are working on. Because the cats at LRI are going to give you more information that you are going to want to track. Go to staples and get a small spiral bound note pad, a good pen, and a mechanical pencil for drawing range cards.

One interesting rifle that showed up for the course was a Weatherby Vanguard in .300 WSM, topped with a Nikon Monarch BDC scope. Not a tactical gun at all, just a hunting rifle. But it worked. Matt was able to drive that kit all the way to a grand and make solid hits. It wasn't the most effective for shooting groups, but it worked just fine once the ranges started to lengthen.

Other guys used purpose built custom sniper rifles...TacticalRifles.net was the favorite supplier, or so it seemed. .308 was quite popular, as was .300 Win Mag. If you have the means and really want to ... order a custom built rifle like that. They really do shoot very well, and print very small groups on your targets. And LRI will teach you how, so you can drive that investment with confidence. Man, what an investment. 3500 bucks was the least spendy custom built kit.

Optics. I brought a set of binos when I should have brought a couple spotting scopes. LRI has a couple of spotting scopes, but not enough to go around in a full class. And they are old and beat up pretty good. They need a couple more. More on that in a minute. When you are looking at something far away and your are looking for small holes in that something far away, you need a very good spotting scope. Cheap wont do... cheap just doesn't have the resolution.

LRI needs Range Glass: I am going to try to get LRI a couple spotting scopes, and a pair of Binos for Shep. But I can't use paypal because thats screwed up. I'm not sure how just yet to accomplish this, but that's my goal.

9-15-08:  LRI Long Range Shooting Course:

500 Miles to nowhere. I left Ogre Ranch after 9AM... a late start... Friends and Family delayed, but quite honestly I was reluctant to leave my boys. I wanted to bring them with me. Even my 8 month old.

The drive was long but not bad at all... crossing the 500 miles I went through some of the most gorgeous country I've ever seen. Oceans of grassland, dotted with Pronghorn. So many antelope that I couldn't believe it. There was a Speed Goat everywhere I looked. Most of the trip I'd see them individually, but as I moved further north east, I began seeing them in larger groups. Even a good sized group that could have numbered about a hundred. I've not seen that many in one group in almost fifteen years.

LRI is located near Lance Creek Wyoming. Now, you guys know I bust on Vernal, Utah for being a small town. Vernal is cosmopolitan compared to Lance Creek. I'll try to remember that next time I complain about the lack of good eateries in Vernal. In about a week once this is through.

LRI HQ is a simple steel building that was built in a week. Hastily done, but accommodating. Plenty of room for everyone, plenty of space. The bathroom has a door, there is a shower, urinal, toilet, sink, and there is a Washer and Drier. Everything one needs. Military bunks that could have been taken straight from Ft. Benning's Harmony Church, where I did my Boot Camp way back when. Brought back nightmares of Drill Sergeants in Campaign Hats.
September gave us a cold snap so this first night, it was cold. As it would be every night of the course. All of us gathered the night before class started so we could start first thing Monday Morning. We bullshitted that night, and we could see our breath while speaking. The space heaters can not keep up. This is why LRI has no scheduled winter courses. While it was chilly, it wasn't too cold. We were told to bring clothes for cold weather so no one was uncomfortable. If you got too cold, Shep's dog, Ruben, could come over and give you a friendly hump to warm you up.

After driving all day, everyone was just happy to be able to walk around and bullshit. Most guys at there are former military, so everyone had stories to tell. Looks like a good group so we'll have a good class once in starts first thing in the morning.

Day One:

We woke up and had chow at 7:30. A great breakfast. We had some class time and got damn near overwhelmed with information. But because our class was small, we got through it quickly. Theory is just that until you put it into practice. Since the weather was on our side here, we decided it was time to head out to the range.

We went to the 100 yard range for zeroing. We worked some drills that I wont get into because they are LRI intellectual property. One that I will talk about is the Colored Dot game. There are 4 colors, and rows of four in different patterns, and this was on four different target boards. You get your name called, you get a color called, and you shoot that colored dot on that row, on each target board as quickly as you can. It was a lot of fun and a jolly good challenge.

We had a lot of discussion regarding the critical importance of tracking your cold bore shots. Lots of misinformation out there floating around the Gun Shop Commando Circuit about what a Cold Bore Shot is. What I didn't know was just how far off those CBS's can be... and the importance of tracking them. Reason being, so when you make a CBS, you know where it is going to hit. This is why you have to be consistent with your cleaning routine, because it has an effect on your CBS. Drastic effects. These effects were different for each rifle at the course. I never really thought about the CBS like this before. Another reason to keep a Data Book – for each of your rifles.

Day Two:

The food here is fantastic... Chow time isn't your normally chow hall mess. Larry is a Master Chef... a Grilling Ninja. You will not be disappointed when you drag yourself back in from the range and smell the food he's been cooking up. Hot coffee and water for Tea or Hot Chocolate was always ready and waiting.

Our days start out at the 100 yard range where we work the FBI Drill and track our CBS. Once that was done we move out to the long range course. We checked our zero at 200 yards and found where we were hitting at distance. This day was about finding our Scope Dope from 200 yards out to 600 yards and hitting at those ranges became clockwork. We discussed Max Point Blank, Wind Drift, and we worked drills between 4, 5, and 600 yards. We also worked on Sniper – Spotter Teamwork.

Day Three:

I'm eating so much good food, I feel sick. My bad knee is kicking my ass. I'm enjoying everything. CBS, FBI Drill, and we worked from 700 to 1000 yards. Once we found our scope dope for each range... yes, at this point we were already hitting at a Grand. Brilliant! Shooting at a grand, I got scope bit hard enough to cause bleeding. James asked if I needed a bandaide. “Fuck a bandaide,” I said, as I jacked another round in the chamber at hit the 1000 yard plate.

Now that we can shoot, we have to push it further. To start out on the next phase, first we had to learn how to draw a Range Card. This is basically a map of your field of fire. On this you jot down your ranges to anything out there... target reference points, any identifiable features... known ranges. Also include your scope-dope for those TRP's. Makes things easier. I'll leave the details of drawing a good range card to the Masters at LRI. There is a lot more to it, and there are different kinds of range cards you can draw.

While we were doing this, the LRI instructors removed the field markers on the range, and scattered the targets around... they were no longer at known distances. 10 steel plates, numbered, time to draw our range cards, estimate the ranges and do a little evil drill where we have to shoot each plate based on our estimates. Marine Snipers do this all the time... this is their bread and butter as Marty, one of the instructors, explained. The way you do this is with your mil dot reticle in your scope, working a math formula, and there you go. My problem is that I didn't have a Mil Dot reticle. I had the Rapid Reticle from PFI. There is a way to mil out ranges with the PFI scope – but we didn't cover this. This was the first time that my brilliant PFI RR800-1 scope became a handicap. You have to shoot a score of 80. I lead the class with an 84 on the first drill.

Day Four:

I was hoping someone would give me a Negligent Discharge and accidentally shoot me in my knee. It kept me up all night... again... We had an MRE for lunch the day before, which means I couldn't take my normal morning constitutional. Evidently I wasn't the only one. Farting was abundant. Thank goodness the wind had picked up to clear the air.

We of course did the CBS tracking with the FBI drill, worked some more unknown distance drills, and then we went out hunting.

I'll just give you the highlight reel now...

The Vehicle Assault Course. The LRI Assault Jeep is a monster. Huge tires, big cage for stand up shooting while on the move... which is perfectly legal at LRI. Not in Utah. Damn it. For this course I used my SIG 556. I rocked the course, not just hitting each target, but double or triple tapping each one – just because I was having too much fun.

Town Raiding. 6 of us jumped into the LRI Assault Jeep and we went raiding prarie dog towns. James spotted a coyote that was taking a shit... we still couldn't shit because of the MRE's we had for lunch, so James shot it. Fucking coyote. Matt and Shep then had to step in the coyote shit as James posed for a photo, holding up the dead fucking coyote. Shep clipped the ears for the bounty which is 25 bucks. My hell, coyote shit stinks. Calling coyotes didn't work here, but pounded around in the Assault Jeep, blasting Hard Rock, scaring wildlife in six counties evidently does.

Calling Mule Deer. We tried to hunt coyotes... and I used a small arsenal of my best calls. Didn't call one bloody coyote in with them... but two doe Mulies came in at a dead run. Frantic, they were. They got within 20 yards of me, standing up in the open, and they just looked at me with their ears up... it was like they were saying “What!? What is it?!” They snooped around, walked past Matt and then wandered away. I've never seen that before.

Another thing I never saw before was a hawk who swooped in for a strike on a prairie dog that I was about to pull the trigger on. He swooped in and perched right there stretching his talons... magnificent bird.

Lefty-Twofer. James had a brutal shot which nailed a P-dog sitting in a perfect side on shot position. His bullet clipped the dog in the back of the neck and severed the spine letting the head fall forward unattached. Because I spent a lot of time rolling in James' Chevy in the Shotgun position – I had to shoot left handed. This proved to be a challenge, but no handicap. I made some fantastic shots. The best one was two head shots with one bullet, left handed. These little P-Dogs would be instantly turned inside out in a very violent, graphic manner. It was a horror show.

Now, this was all done shooting 55 grain V-Max bullets with my Savage .22-250 which Rob Bonacci, LRI's Armorer, skillfully unfucked. The bloody gun could extract a fired shell, but not eject it. He fixed that. Then gave it a tiger stripe camo paint job. And he put a target crown on my carry pistol. Rob is a fantastic gunsmith who really knows his craft. If your gun has a problem, Rob will fix it.

Good people. The other students there were solid good guys. Good shooters. Travis and Chris from Magpul Dynamics, with their purpose built sniper rifles. Dimitri from LA. Matt from Min. Matt was the most improved shooter, coming in with his Weatherby Vanguard in .300 WSM and a Nikon Monarch BDC... couldn't group at all at first... went away owning anything out to a 1000 yards with authority. Dimitri, man... he shot group at 1000 yards that was about 5 inches with a .308 using factory rolled ammunition... Federal Gold Match. I about fell over when I saw that. He also cleaned the night shoot with his .308 and Nightforce scope.  I couldn't hit crap with my Sig at night... so James handed me his .22-250 and I then quickly cleaned the night shoot myself.  The instructors are good people... Just awesome.  Shep, Marty, James, and Rob did a great job and put on a course that I will never forget. Larry with the cooking... Stan Wolfe... what can I say about Stan? The man is an institution... he is developing one hell of a good mounting system for optics on long range guns that allowed me to hit at 1100 yards – easily – in high wind. He's Old School Marine, being a Veteran of the Korean War.

Then there is Ruben. An insane Wire-Haired Griffon... which is a hairy sort of sporting bird-dog. The floor was his territory, so don't leave anything on it... or on your bunk in easy reach... or your sleeping bag with arousing looking lumps. Because Ruben would either steal it or hump it. Including old men such as Larry and Stan. Oh, this was funny as hell.

Ruben was easily distracted with a laser, I found. He would chase it with determination. The trick is to get him chasing a laser, then lead it under or behind the couch and turn it off to make it look like the dot was hiding. Ruben would be occupied with this for a good long time. So if you get Ruben interested in something that belongs to you... get him to hunt that laser dot and he'll leave you alone.

I had a great time at LRI and I was reluctant to leave this shooter's heaven... As the road from LRI turned back from dirt to pavement, the music on the radio changed to the news, and instantly I was back in the real world.

I look forward to going back as soon as I can.  I thought I was a pretty good shot before I went to LRI... Man, I had know idea.  Seriously, I've never had more fun, or learned so much about shooting.   You guys have got to go for yourselves.  Some photos are up here, and I'll post my own tomorrow night.

9-6-08:  I am doing the LRI Long Range Shooting Course. I'll be back in a week.

9-4-08:  One of the coolest things about working in a gun shop is the Store Meetings. This morning, we had one. At the Range. We had to zero in the .50 BMG rifle we are going to let folks shoot at the September 20^th Range Day. Tough work there, but it had to be done. So not only did we shoot the .50 at not cost to ourselves... but we got paid to do it. How frakking cool is that? In between .50 blasts, we lit up the range with an assortment of other goodies. Including my new Remington 700 XCR compact Tactical rifle. Got it zeroed and started using the ballistic reticle as it is supposed to be used. Ah, let's just put it this way. It works as advertised. “Dead Nuts On”. Impressive system. I really like it. The first time I was shooting it, I had some match grade ammo, but today I had to roll with my bulk ammunition supply – which is 150 grain Winchester Super X grey box stuff... I just didn't have anything better. It still worked though. Didn't group nearly as tight as the match stuff, but of course I wasn't expecting it to. Now here is the interesting thing. I knew the crappy ammo was going to hit at a different point of impact as this would require a re-zero. It's still not perfectly zeroed, but I'm not worried about it. Once I get up to Lance Creek for the LRI long range shooting course, I'll have to zero it again anyway.

I am leaving Ogre Ranch for the course Sunday Morning and I don't expect to be back until Sunday evening one week later. I am not planning on any blogging during this week... but I will be taking pictures and taking notes for a detailed review of the course once I return home

I found out what was screwing up my email server. My ISP decided to all the sudden filter all Port 25 traffic through their own server instead of me connecting directly to my SMTP server. Well, now I'm redirecting my outgoing mail again and there you go. All the sudden I can send emails again. Really cool that they gave me a heads up on that.... such dickheads.

9-3-08:  The Republican Convention: I was going to skip Rudy's speech... but I am glad I caught it. Holy crap, Rudy tore Obama's guts out, danced on them, and kicked them to the curb. Fantastic speech. Rudy hit the ball out of the ballpark. Then Sarah got up. Man... Sharp as a razor. I am just loving Palin. She is exactly what the Republican Party needs. Something to really motivate and energize the base. If I was McCain, I'd be feeling pretty damn good right now.

The Vortex Strikefire: We got in ONE of them. Mine has not come in yet, but one for Store Stock. I have to say, I'm not impressed with the buttons. Very stiff. In fact, they are hard to push. You have to use the frame of your pocketknife to push the buttons because you can't push them with your fingers hard enough. The rest of the unit is decent, but I'm not liking the optical doubler. We are selling them for 129.99, and at that price – it's a damn good buy.

9-2-08:  Okay guys, I am full on ready for this LRI course now. I have the ammo. I have the rifle. All I need is to get there. What rifle? Oh, well... you know how I said I was going to get thee Remington 700 SPS Tactical? I decided not to. I went with something different instead.  I've got that Remington 700 XCR Compact Tactical, with the PFI RR800-1 Scope.  I'm not thrilled about the rings and bases... I will eventually change those out to a 1 piece Weaver type... But these will do.  I have used this set up on .300 Ultra Mags, so I know they will work... I just would like something more fitting of the tactical nature of this gun.  Whatever that means.  The stock and the trigger are what made me change my mind.  The full aluminum box bedding and the much much more refined trigger set the gun apart from the SPS Tactical.  Much smoother action thanks to the XCR treatment which involves Remington's TriNyte coating.  The trigger is the same trigger that Remington puts in their 40-X custom rifles.  This trigger basically makes the standard X-Mark Pro trigger look like ugly step child... and that is a great trigger as it is!   This trigger is just something to behold... for a production rifle... fantastic.   The big question is "how does it shoot?"  Simply astonishing.

9-1-08:  Happy Birthday my beloved bride... I love you dearly.  Mrs. Ogre has a little side venture selling educational books and toys. Please check the stuff out and if you have any kids around – consider something that will help their brains develop.  My little kids love this stuff.

Kicking back with cold carbonated caffeine, working on some writing, and listening to Disturbed through my headphones with the volume cranked up to F-14 Tomcat Launching Volume. Few things really amp me up like loud heavy metal. My boys are home from school today, but it's been raining like mad outside and we really can't go out and do anything. So we are all fighting Cabin Fever today. Just for fun, I played some Metal out loud and had all my boys Moshing around the living room in some Ogerish tribal stomping dance... it was awesome. Nightwish, NIN, Disturbed, Saliva... they rock to it all... My boys are cool.

8-31-08:  Sarah Palin is causing the Liberals complete fits. I wont link to it, but Daily Kos, that utter moron over there is floating a retarded and nasty rumor that Palin wasn't really pregnant and Trig is her daughter's baby. They are in such a tizzy over this they are saying that it's suspicious that her water broke, but she flew home to have her baby. They are so worked up that they saying she wasn't pregnant, but her water broke... Let me run that by you one more time for effect. She wasn't really pregnant, but her water broke. I'm going to give you the basic biology right here about this... I'm kind of an expert... I've 6 sons and I've delivered 4 of them. If a woman's water breaks – it means she really was pregnant, and she really is going to have a baby. The water in these cases is the fluid that the baby lives in while in Mommy's tummy... the water breaks, and comes out... that means the baby is going to come out too. If Sarah Palin had a water break, that means she had a baby. Kos should be given a sound beating for his bullshit and all these moronic Liberals are following along when they should know better. For floating such a stupid rumor, Democrats should be deleted all their links to him. They are willing to believe such a stupid – brain dead stupid and far fetched rumor – just because they are so afraid of Sarah Palin. Take a look at Sarah Palin... she isn't scary. She's a nice person. Don't demonize her. To take politics to such a low, slimeball level regarding good people like the Palins – You liberals are assholes.

8-29-08:  Pistol Packing Teachers: Teachers of a certain local school were informed by letter from the Sheriff's Department that they have the option, if they want to take it, to take Concealed Carry Classes and Pack Heat In School for the protection of themselves and their students. Here In Utah. Texas doesn't get all the fun! Mrs. Ogre now wants to get her Permit. How cool is that?

No Drive By's: You can not shoot from your vehicle. You can not shoot from the back of your truck. You can not even lean across the hood of your truck. You can't brace your shot from your truck... You can't do it... don't even think about it. You will have 3 pages of charges against you if you do. But everyone – EVERYONE – does it. You especially can't take Game this way. If you do, you'll get 9 pages of charges against you. And the Fish and Game cops out there are dead serious about this. They have no sense of humor about this, they have no understanding of this.... It's okay to walk a few steps from your truck and shoot... but if you lean over your hood to brace for the shot – these guys will haul you in. I really don't get this... it's is a bullshit law. It's okay to hunt/shoot from the back of your truck in Texas and in other countries that all have the same kind of terrain as we do out here in Utah.... but we can't do it in Utah. You will go to jail and lose all your gun rights if you do this. But like I said – Everyone does it. The fish and game cops are of the attitude that we are all retarded and can't handle leaning on your truck while you shoot. They feel, if you lean on your truck – you will then be doing Drive By's on Elk. I suggest a change in the Utah law here. I suggest that if you are PARKED, it should be just fine. If you are in the back of the truck, it should be just fine. Basically, if the Vehicle Is Not Moving, it should be just fine. 

Some of these hunting vehicles they use are awesome.  The truck beds have a cool rail system, with swivel chairs so you can brace on the rails and have a 360 degree view of the area.  They kickbutt... unfortunately we are too retarded in Utah to do that... or actually... the state of Utah thinks we are to retarded to handle that.  And so do these damn Fish and Game cops who believe it.  The one I talked to looked at me like I was insane to even think that we are capable of even just using the hoods of our trucks as a rifle rest without ripping around like Poncho Villa shooting everything.

Sarah Palin is an awesome woman. She's all over the issues with the right answers, she's smart, she's hot, she's popular. Everything I read about her, the more I like her and I liked her before she was picked. This selection was a brilliant pick by McCain. You guys out there that have said you wanted someone to vote for instead of against. Sarah Palin is someone to vote for.  Let's look at Sarah Palin.

Photo removed, because it was a fake... a damn good looking fake... but a fake. 

Without a doubt, she's beautiful.  Can Hillary pull off this look?  Great legs, Sarah.  Very nice.

She can fish.   That's a salmon.  They are not easy to catch.  It's usually cold and wet when your fishing for them... Let's see Nancy Pelosi get her hands dirty.

Okay, this doesn't have anything to do with anything, but I like the picture and it made Mrs. Ogre laugh.  That, and I'm a huge BSG fan.

She isn't afraid of guns.  Here, she's trying an Army M-16 Simulator...  An evil black rifle... scary?  Not to her.  She's a member of the NRA... a Real Member and not a new member just because it looks good.

She hunts... she herself really hunts...  How many other female politicians really get out there and hunt?

She supports the military.  Her son is in the Army.  She's all over the situation in Iraq and isn't afraid to talk to the Officers on the ground... unlike Obama.  

Sarah Palin ROCKS to a shockingly high degree, and I hope she serves 8 years as Veep and another 8 years as the President.

8-28-08: It's about time someone did this. The question of how to effectively put a red dot on an AK has been answered in the most elegant way possible. Simple, tight, well thought out. Brilliant. This is one of those, “why has no one not thought of this before?” kind of things. Check it out. If you have an AK – this is what you want.

A .308 Tactical Rifle Options: As you guys know, I'm looking hard at a .308 rifle. I looked at some options from other makers, but I keep coming back to Remington, specifically three Remington 700 models.

The first one is the Model 700 SPS Tactical. This is a simple rifle, with no pretense and little in the way of cosmetics. Go ahead and read the specs on it. I like the double point pillar bedding. That makes for a solid set up. The trigger is the new X – Mark Pro trigger system, which is awesome. The barrel is a thick 20” bull barrel. Rather short and very stiff... with a good target crown, this is going to be a very accurate rifle. The price is very affordable.

The next rifle I'm interested in is the very excellent 700 XCR Compact Tactical. I really like this gun. The barrel is not as heavy, thanks to some cutting. The bedding is a full aluminum box bedding set up that is pretty much the best you can do in a reasonably priced production rifle. The XCR finish is very attractive, slick, and corrosion resistant. I like the olive drab stock. There is only one downside to this gun, and that's the price. It's twice as much as the SPS-T. Twice as much... but is it going to shoot twice as well? Probably not... but 5 years later, I'll probably like it twice as much. I don't know. It probably is but I don't know if I want to drop that much coin on a rifle in a caliber that I don't get thrilled about.

Last one I am interested in is the 700 VTR. This one has the funky varminter stock... which I think is kind of cool. I like the look. I like the feel of it, as far as the contour goes. It's different... no one else really does a rifle anywhere near as different as this one. But I am not sure about the action's bedding and everything I've found regarding to accuracy has shown huge variances from half an inch to 30 inches at 100 yards. The one thing about it that really just flat out turns me off is the muzzle break. I want to like this gun, and I'm sure I can get it to run... but I don't know if I want to spend my own money on it. Know what I mean there? Cost wise is about a hundred bucks more than the SPS-T. I don't know.

Well, let's make a choice here. I'm going to go with the SPS Tactical.

For those just tuning in: Why am I buying a .308 rifle? Simple. Because PFI sent me one of these and it's so damn good, I'm buying a rifle just to sling under it. Brilliant scope. Dead serious. If you have a .308 – this is the scope you want. Once I put this combination together, I'll review the whole kit in detail.

The one new rifle that we got in that I keep picking up and really quite like is the Browning X-Bolt in .243. I like the lines, the safety, the magazine... everything about it is great. If I wanted a .243 – that would be it. If we had one in .308, I'd be awfully tempted to get that one.

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