Monday, October 26, 2015

Range Report #6: A Fun Day at the range

Hey folks, 12-Gauge Chimp here with another edition of Range Report.

I finally got out to the range after a long hot summer of sweating myself stupid and being too busy to actually go. I know some of you are probably asking "What guns did you take, Chimp ?" and I'll tell you in a minute. First, I want to tell you about the original plan that ended up becoming an impromptu range day.

My oldest nephew asked me to take him rabbit hunting this past summer and I went all out planning a hunt for the little guy. Well, originally we were going to hunt on my older brother's land where Oldest Nephew and his family live, but Older Brother nixed that idea. His reasoning is still unclear at this point, but I suspect it's because I was the one to come up with the idea instead of him. Anyway, when Oldest Nephew got the news that our planned rabbit hunt was cancelled, he was understandably heartbroken. Kid had been talking about the hunt for months and was so excited to finally get to go hunting. I will still take him rabbit hunting at some point, but I'll be looking for another hunting spot.

Moving on, since the rabbit hunt was a no go, I then decided the day was not going to be lost because my brother is a jerk. So, I loaded up a couple of my guns (I took my M+M M10 AK that I had done some work to over the past year along with my new to me Ruger 22/45 and my Glock 21) and off we went to the range. I also brought along some BB guns for my nephew to practice with.

So we hit the range and I let my nephew shoot some cans with his BB guns before I commence testing my new guns. Nephew had fun and I was happy that he was cheering up. After Nephew had fun, it was time for Uncle Chimp to have fun.

The first gun I tested was my M10 AK and while I only fired a single ten round magazine through it, I have to say all my mods worked fantastically and I'm glad they did.

The Midwest Industries AK muzzle device (again, I am not kidding about the name. MI actually calls it that on the package) worked well and kept the muzzle of my rifle down and made follow up shots easy to make.

The Troy Industries AK handguard worked perfectly and kept my hands from being burned by the hot barrel. The Magpul AFG was comfortable and I plan on putting one on any tactical rifle I purchase in the future because they work so well. The Magpul AK MOE grip was a lot more comfortable in my hands than the Hogue grip that came with the rifle and was too grippy in my opinion. The Magpul grip had just the right amount of grip and felt just right in my hands.

Even the ten round Arsenal AK mag that I used worked well. I just bought those because they were on sale and I figured they'd be good for testing accuracy from a bench (I know, I know, it's an AK not a benchrest rifle and won't get that great of accuracy due to the design).

After the brief AK test, I moved onto the new-to-me Ruger 22/45 I got in a trade awhile back. You folks can expect a full review of this gun some time in the future from me.

It's the basic model and I wasn't really testing for accuracy, just getting some trigger time behind it. I had a little trouble getting it to fire at first, but I soon fixed that and was blowing through the magazine with no problems.After I had my fun with it, it was my oldest nephew's turn. He had zero problems shooting the Ruger as it's a lightweight gun and often the first gun for new shooters. My nephew has some experience with guns, but he still had me help him since he was new to pistols. I helped him hold the gun as he put rounds downrange and after he finished the mag, he had a big smile on his face. "That was awesome, Uncle Chimp." my nephew told me after I put the gun away. I'm happy the little dude had fun and wasn't disappointed anymore that our original plans were messed up by his dad.

After we shot my 22/45 and had put it away, I felt it was time to try out my Glock 21 that I had purchased last summer. I brought along two loaded mags and a holster that I plan to use once I get my CCW permit. I made sure the range was good to go and drew my Glock. I only fired the two mags I had with me, but both worked flawlessly and I was able to keep all the rounds on target. Again, I wasn't testing for accuracy, just to make sure everything functioned and to get some trigger time with the gun. Firing a polymer framed Glock was a new experience for me since I'm used to shooting a steel framed 1911. I actually prefer the Glock over the 1911 now since the gun is lighter and holds more ammo in the mag. Not to mention I don't have to polish the feed ramp to get it to feed hollow point ammo like I did with the 1911 I owned.

Overall, I had fun and was happy I got to finally test out my guns. I was also happy that my nephew got to go along with me and have fun as well. I'm now in the process of looking for land my nephew and I can go rabbit hunting on and I hope we can get out and hunt soon. Otherwise, I bought two scopes for nothing.

As always, this is 12-Gauge Chimp signing off.

Friday, October 2, 2015

Guns and Gear Review #20: Lucky Dog Knife and Leather Glock 41 holster.

Hello folks, it's 12-Gauge Chimp again. Today I want to talk about a piece of gear that I recently purchased from a local custom shop.

I was browsing a local gun board awhile back and came across an ad for a custom holster maker named Chris Vargas. Chris is the owner and operator of Lucky Dog Knife and Leather in Lubbock Texas and I sent him a message asking him if he could make a holster for a Glock 41 with a Streamlight TLR-1s (this is a variant of the TLR-1 that has a strobe function. No difference in size, just the addition of a strobe function). Sadly, Chris couldn't make the holster for the gun with a light since he didn't own or have access to that particular light. Still, I commissioned him to make the holster anyway minus the light bearing option.

After a few minor hiccups, one involving Chris accidentally sending me the wrong holster and then having a family emergency, I received my holster a few weeks after the initial quoted time. To thank me for being so patient with him during the wait and as a sort of peace offering, Chris included a pair of magazine carriers with my order. I received the package a few days later after Chris called me personally to tell me about what had kept him from getting my holster out in the allotted time frame. Not many companies will do that in this day and age and I really appreciated that Chris took time out of his busy schedule to call me.

On to the holster itself now.

It's a standard Kydex holster, but with a left handed draw set up since I shoot handguns as a lefty. I can shoot them with my right hand just fine, but I prefer to use my left hand since it's my stronger hand. A lifetime of using my left hand to complete tasks and write will usually do that. I specifically asked for an OWB (outside the waistband) style with Tek-Lok mounting devices since I'm used to the style on my Blade-Tech holster. I just like the Tek-Lok mounts for some reason so I asked Chris to have those instead of belt loops.

Due to the small design of these particular Tek-Loks, I now have to purchase either a smaller width belt or larger Tek-Loks to accommodate my belts. It's not a big deal since Tek-Loks are around 10 bucks or so for the larger models.

The fit of the gun is perfect, though I may have to do some minor tweaking to make the draw and reholstering a little smoother. This is by no means any of Chris' fault, it's just a personal preference of mine.

The magazine carriers are set up for Tek-Loks as well and I plan to purchase some in the near future. I did have a minor complaint about one of the mag carriers, though. It's a little loose in retention of the magazine, but a little heating and reforming of the Kydex and it'll be as tight as I need it to be without having to worry about my magazine falling out.

I'll be using the holster a lot in the future in order to fully test it and I'll update this post with my findings, but until then I'm happy with the holster.

Big thanks goes out to Chris Vargas for making my holster and for doing a damn good job on it. It took a little longer than expected to reach me, but in the end the wait was worth it.

As always, this is 12-Gauge Chimp signing off.