A Day At The Range/Gun of the day

[Columbo]

Two interesting stories about Carson, one personal.

As many should know, it was Jack Benny who really helped Carson along early. There is a popular Jack Benny episode featuring Carson, but the relationship was much deeper than that. And Carson absolutely adored Benny. The story was that Carson cried like a baby when Benny died, and Carson was otherwise a pretty hard (and sometimes vicious) man.

As an aside, Benny’s violin comedy was truly a schtick. He really did own a Stradivarius, and was a near concert-level violinist. I had some family members who would travel out to the Valley Forge Music Fair to see Jack Benny whenever he would tour there. A very talented man.

And when Carson first got his Tonight Show in the early 1960s, and the show was still out of New York, he did not buy his suits in Manhattan. They were custom-made by the previous owner of one of my homes. Carson would personally drive out from NYC to be fitted and to pick them up. The lady would make them right there in the house. And it was quite the neighborhood event whenever he showed up.

What any of this has to do with A Day at the Range, I do not know. But it is certainly a fun detour and frolic.

 

[ackvil]

You should see his 1973 interview of Alfred Hitchcock, which I believe is still somewhere on the Internet. Classic Tom Snyder. Hitchcock was quite a character.

I couldn’t even tell you what is on late night network TV today. Such tripe they feed them now.

He sure was. I recall a story of him sending flowers to a neighbor he hated. He did this once a month and never signed his name to the card only had a heart drawn on the card. Apparently to the satisfaction of Hitchcock, the flowers incident sparked a dispute between the recipient and her husband.

 

[oc_in_fw]

Two interesting stories about Carson, one personal.

As many should know, it was Jack Benny who really helped Carson along early. There is a popular Jack Benny episode featuring Carson, but the relationship was much deeper than that. And Carson absolutely adored Benny. The story was that Carson cried like a baby when Benny died, and Carson was otherwise a pretty hard (and sometimes vicious) man.

As an aside, Benny’s violin comedy was truly a schtick. He really did own a Stradivarius, and was a near concert-level violinist. I had some family members who would travel out to the Valley Forge Music Fair to see Jack Benny whenever he would tour there. A very talented man.

And when Carson first got his Tonight Show in the early 1960s, and the show was still out of New York, he did not buy his suits in Manhattan. They were custom-made by the previous owner of one of my homes. Carson would personally drive out from NYC to be fitted and to pick them up. The lady would make them right there in the house. And it was quite the neighborhood event whenever he showed up.

What any of this has to do with A Day at the Range, I do not know. But it is certainly a fun detour and frolic.

A little thread drift is nice from time to time.

 

[FarmerTan]

A little thread drift is nice from time to time.

You're welcome. It's my specialty!

 

[OkieStubble]

You should see his 1973 interview of Alfred Hitchcock, which I believe is still somewhere on the Internet. Classic Tom Snyder. Hitchcock was quite a character.

I couldn’t even tell you what is on late night network TV today. Such tripe they feed them now.

The wife and I still watch Hitchcock on late night TV. We don't have any use for cable and there are a few regular stations that have the old classics we grew up with. I never realized back in the day, how crazy funny, the sit- com Third Rock From The Sun is and was. heck, we still watch,

Beverly Hillbillies
Burns & Allen
Jack Benny
Father Knows Best
Perry Mason
Mannix
And many others.

There is even a station that only shows old game shows from the 60's and 70's.

 

[jar_]

The original Rocky & Bullwinkle.

 

[OkieStubble]

The original Rocky & Bullwinkle.

That's a good one.

 

[Ad Astra]

Great day with M66 and SP101... And new Acme boolits over 4 grains Red Dot.

AA

 

[stone and strop]

Great day with M66 and SP101... And new Acme boolits over 4 grains Red Dot.

View attachment 1150272

View attachment 1150273

AA

Nice!

 

[Ad Astra]

I ran out of Unique, Red Dot is actually cleaner, less smoky!

Probably more like 3.75 grains, 158gr projo.

AA

 

[nortac]

Nice shooting!

 

[Ad Astra]

Nice shooting!

Easy with a 6" Smith! Haven't had those oversized magna rosewood grips on since the early 1980s. Super comfortable.

I reread your Elmer Keith's "Sixguns," and picked up on the need for a firm crimp - for more complete powder burning. Made sense and these went downrange very clean.

AA

 

[nortac]

Shot my S&W 6 in. 686 with 125 gr. .38 Special loads to place third in our weekly Range Officers Match. Also did some shooting with my new AR build in .223/5.56, all from the bench to sight in the SIG Romeo5 RDS. I will put it to the test in next weeks RO match.

 

[jar_]

Did preliminary scope sighting at the range today on the Savage Springfield and the JC Higgins 28. Savage was simply a joy and other than my ineptitude and horrid eyesight did all I could expect. The 28 though is still giving me issues with the occasional failure to eject, either simply trying to reload the spent cartridge behind the new one or stove piping. I haven't been able to get it to fail to eject using snap caps and so far it's never failed to extract so I'm likely going to have to pull it apart and see if there is something wrong with the ejector. Will try a good spray down with action cleaner and a wider variety of ammo brands and makes before that though.

 

[Columbo]

This morning was pistol range day for Mrs. Columbo and me. We are still on a bi-weekly schedule due to the restrictions and most indoor ranges running at 1/2 capacity. We are easing Mrs. Columbo towards my old P220 for HD with some P226 9mm sessions to learn the manual. The 226 is a little less daunting on discharge. She is starting to like the full-size Sigs. And she just loves banging away on her little S&W.

About ammo: Our place had both 9mm and 38 spl. for us, but the prices had gone up yet again. I tolerated (barely) $14/ea for two boxes of Federal 9mm fmj. I forget what the 38 was, but it was similarly a bit high. I was considering just living off our ammo cabinet into next year. But it was there. So we replenished.

Talking to the owner, he tells me the dealer consortium agent he buys ammo through has been slowly easing up the prices for them all summer, and also delivering less of it. But they are holding the line on profit margin, and just passing along their cost bumps. Their supply is 'adequate' for customers, which means rationing and higher prices for their members. But no gouging, and they had inventory on everything. One of the fair ones.

We shot off under 150 rounds this morning, and came home with 150. We didn't malinger because ...

The weather was just beautiful this morning. So it was the convertible going back and forth. As much fun as the range time. No complaints.

 

[nikonNUT]

Went out today to chase an issue I've been having with the .338. Been using the Magneto Speed and my first shot in a 5 shot group is always 30 to 40FPS slow with the suppressor on so my ES is whack! Today I was running the Sidwinder brake and while my cold bore shot was fast (but only by 15FPS over the second faster) all the rest offered up an ES of 17 and an SD of 6.4. Not good but it was sloppy reloading aka unknown case length, not sure how many firings on the cases, and shoulders that were bumped back with a standard die ring (so case volume may have been impacted a bit). I've since moved to a click adjustable die ring from Widden and can hold .0015 to .0025" of bump all day long. It has helped a lot! Anyways, seems like the beast doesn't like being muzzled! Plus, there is something satisfying when the trigger breaks and that rifle roars! It's also more forgiving to my shoulder. The Area 419 Sidewinder brake is an impressive piece of kit. Loud as all get out (not too bad behind the rifle but I wouldn't want to be one table over!) but tames the recoil to 6.5CM levels (25 pounds of rifle probably doesn't hurt). I think the can will be relegated to the 6.5CM (actually hearing safe) the various AR-15s, and handguns and I'm OK with that. Time to tweek my load to get back in the node! What an adventure!

 

[nikonNUT]

About ammo: Our place had both 9mm and 38 spl. for us, but the prices had gone up yet again. I tolerated (barely) $14/ea for two boxes of Federal 9mm fmj. I forget what the 38 was, but it was similarly a bit high. I was considering just living off our ammo cabinet into next year. But it was there. So we replenished.

Talking to the owner, he tells me the dealer consortium agent he buys ammo through has been slowly easing up the prices for them all summer, and also delivering less of it. But they are holding the line on profit margin, and just passing along their cost bumps. Their supply is 'adequate' for customers, which means rationing and higher prices for their members. But no gouging, and they had inventory on everything. One of the fair ones.

I've gotten pretty tight with the owner of my LGS and we were chatting about prices. Not sure how we landed on the topic but he was telling that every time he places an order for 9mm there has been a 10% price increase. Then he told me that Fiocchi sent out an e-mail saying there would be a 25% increase on the next round of orders. I don't know what cost is but I would guess that there have been (3) 10% mark ups and (1) 25% mark up so that's a grand total of a 66.xxx% increase from the manufacturer. It will be interesting to see what happens when (if) this ends. Time will tell!

 

[Columbo]

I've gotten pretty tight with the owner of my LGS and we were chatting about prices. Not sure how we landed on the topic but he was telling that every time he places an order for 9mm there has been a 10% price increase. Then he told me that Fiocchi sent out an e-mail saying there would be a 25% increase on the next round of orders. I don't know what cost is but I would guess that there have been (3) 10% mark ups and (1) 25% mark up so that's a grand total of a 66.xxx% increase from the manufacturer. It will be interesting to see what happens when (if) this ends. Time will tell!

They’re all doing it now. The off-the-street retail prices that both Federal and Speer are now listing on their websites are above my pain threshold. And the ammo pirates are now asking some multiple of that.

I am basically in replenishment mode at this point ... for now. I’m already wincing getting what is today a ‘fair’ price on a box or two.

As long as my LGS holds the line on profit margin, I’m guessing his prices will be tolerable to me for at most another 30 days. Then we’ll live off our ammo cabinet until spring ... sort of like the bears do.

Let’s face it, this is whining about range and practice rounds. So, we’ll practice just a little bit less.

The smart ones were fully provisioned on the SHTF loads long before it went clown world. As long as you have an adequate supply of those, the rest can be managed.

 

[OkieStubble]

They’re all doing it now. The off-the-street retail prices that both Federal and Speer are now listing on their websites are above my pain threshold. And the ammo pirates are now asking some multiple of that.

I am basically in replenishment mode at this point ... for now. I’m already wincing getting what is today a ‘fair’ price on a box or two.

As long as my LGS holds the line on profit margin, I’m guessing his prices will be tolerable to me for at most another 30 days. Then we’ll live off our ammo cabinet until spring ... sort of like the bears do.

Let’s face it, this is whining about range and practice rounds. So, we’ll practice just a little bit less.

The smart ones were fully provisioned on the SHTF loads long before it went clown world. As long as you have an adequate supply of those, the rest can be managed.

Lol'd @ like the bears do.

I have been grabbing a box of defensive rounds here and there for over 20 years. I don't think I was trying to be smart, I think I was just listening to that deep feeling in my gut. Everyone has it, not everyone listens.

 

[nikonNUT]

Decided I needed a handgun day so I grabbed the Glock, the Nighthawks, and the Tri-Arc and ran some modified El presidente drills. The handguns performed as expected but I had an epiphany with the Tri-Arc. That little dude can hit! Cinch up on the sling and it will put them in a 3 inch circle as long as you want to pull the trigger!

As an aside... Anybody want some once fired 5.56 federal or 9mm S&B brass? Free for the taking! Just tell me where to send it!