And so it shall be written.

When I write my autobiography, I shall have flame throwers and hover boots.

About that curtailed purchasing...

Okay, so I really didn't curtail it that much. But I did... a bit... honest... I can quit anytime I want. Stop laughing! I can quit!

Anyway, I started saving up for a major purchase a ways back. I mentioned it in this post back in May.

The following are pics of my brand new to me, FBI Thompson M1928A1 with original case, manual and drum magazines.

Except it looks a lot like a helicopter.

It's still in transit. The gentleman transporting it from Florida to me is being kind enough to store it temporarily till I can find a hanger here for it.  There's no way I'm going to even risk a chance of hail damage to it. I'm not saying I'm all school girl, jumping around, clapping, squealing excited right now... All those years flying fixed wing and jets and I still wanted to do this. Well, I'm gonna and mom and dad can't stop me now. If they ask, I'll just tell them I'm playing piano at a whore house.

I've lined up an instructor and contacts with several other owners in the area. So, the support network is starting at least.  Having time off is an issue.

Honest, it followed me home on it's own...

Can I keep it? Too late, I already am.

She's a 1941 Kovrov SVT-40. Has the SVT not AVT stock. (No cut out for the full auto flip on the safety switch.) Really in great shape for a 70+ year old gun.

Range report will follow when time allows.

I've heard this gun referred to as the Soviet Garand. I think it has a bit more in common with the US's M14 and would make it a more advanced rifle than the Garand. The notable feature being the detachable magazine. But as both the Garand and the SVT-40 were WW2 and the M14 was a development of a decade later, I can see why the one comparison and not the other.

This rifle was planned to be the replacement for the Mosin Nagant and be the primary MBR of the Soviet military but the timing of the war, vulnerability of the factories making these to the Nazi advance during Operation Barbarosa, and just the flat out critical need for millions of rifles NOW, meant the Mosin Nagant remained the primary rifle of the Soviets during WW2 and relatively few of these being produced in comparison.  And we all know the AK pretty much eclipsed anything else coming before it after the war.

I'm thinking about naming her Ivana Onnatop.

Conversations we have.

Me: You know what I learned yesterday! Children are hereditary. If your parents don't have kids, you're more likely not to have them either!

Daniels: I.. Don't... Think... It... Works... That... Way.

Desi: I heard it skips a generation.

Here, have a clue. Free of charge.

Everyone keeps referencing al-Qaeda when they talk about ISIS or ISIL.  Has it gone over their heads that comparing al-Qaeda, a terrorist group operating in small groups with no easily visible support or logistics train, with ISIS, a group that has grabbed territory, is collecting taxes from towns and people in it's area of operations, has seized operating oil wells and refineries and is trading oil on the OPEC markets, is seizing infrastructure like electricity, water as well as logistic points like ports and airfields, is consolidating borders and expanding them, have as much in common as apples and oranges?

I went to the store for a loaf of bread....

So, I'm running low on gun grease.  Not gun lube, gun grease.  When you have a few older rifles, you run into that.  Anyway, I ran down to the local gun range to get a jar and nearly 530 bucks later I walked out with this little jar.

But it's really high quality, made in Belgium, pre-1939 grease.  I'll post more when I finish researching the grease I got.
 

Range followup.

So, grabbing my meager supply of .30Carbine ammo, I, like the intrepid explorer I am, trudged my way to the range to see if the Rock-ola would shoot and shoot mostly... straightly.

 

Here's the target, at 25 yds.

 

 

The flyer at 3 to 4 O'clock is the first round fired.  I was holding the rifle at arms length away from me. I just wanted to be sure it wasn't gonna blow up in my face.

 

The other two rounds were standing supported, with the rear sight set at 100 and mechanically centered. POA was the center of the target and the rounds were hitting about where they should be for a 100 yd zero.

 

The only problem is it wouldn't reset after firing a round. What was happening was after firing the round releasing the trigger and pulling would produce no second bang.  The trigger is resetting. So, the springs are functioning correctly. The spent round is ejecting and the fresh round is loading correctly and the bolt is going all the way into battery. I'm pretty sure it's the sear. Unfortunately finding a Rock-ola sear is looking to be an issue.  I'll probably just get a generic one for now to get the rifle functioning correctly and take my time searching for a Rock-ola at gun shows.

 

I now have 42 rounds of .30Carbine left.

 

 

 

Finally

It took a while, but I finally got the Rock-ola M1 Carbine all together.

 

All parts are correct Rock-ola, although the serial number puts it as a first production run in '43 and I built it up with later parts.  Type 1 barrel bands are impossible to find or prohibitively expensive.  When I got the receiver it had a Herlo barrel on it, complete with all the markings that pretty much said it was faked and unsafe to shoot.  I located a real Rock-ola barrel and had that put on.  The receiver rear sight dovetails were so badly pinged that I took it to the smith at Jackson Armory and had him build them back up and reblue the entire receiver.  It came out amazing.  Here are a few pics of the rear sight.  You can see that the built up areas didn't take the blue the same as the rest of the receiver but it's only really noticeable close up like this.

 

 

 

 

Now to take it out and see how much I'll have to shave the front sight down to zero it. Which makes me nervous.  I'm not a gun smith and anytime I do something that can't be undid by a professional... well, you get the idea.

 

I'm toying with the idea of getting an example of the M1 Carbine from every maker that wasn't a traditional rifle manufacturer.  So, Rock-ola (juke boxes), Saginaw (auto parts), IBM, National Postal Meter.  How does that sounds as an idea. I really need to focus my collecting to something more specific than "all of them". 

 

There were over 6 million of the M1 Carbines made Which made it the most produced arm of that era.  Seeing service from WW2 thru Vietnam in the US Military and longer with other countries and police departments.

 

 

 

 

Patches...

My new moral patch.  Searched forever for this. 

 

 

Someday, someone will translate it.

Range Report.

It's not a big range report. I only had 40 rounds of M1 Carbine ammo total. But here it is. 5 rounds to make sure it wasn't gonna blow up in my face. 5 rounds at 100 yd setting and 5 rounds at the 300 yd. setting.

 

This is set to the 100 yd. detent on the sight.  This is also at 15 yds. and not 25. So, according to my handy-dandy ballistic calculator, that group is .2" lower than it would be at 25. But with that factored in, she's still shooting a might bit low. But not enough for me to worry or do anything about it.

 

And this is same distance at the 300 yd detent on the sight.

 

 

Again, according to my magic slide rule.... no, not that one. The one for ballistic calculations, that's about right.

 

So overall, both settings grouped nicely on the target, the rifle functioned flawlessly and I have 25 rounds left.  On a side note, when I printed these out the bottom dashed line came out to 3.5" long.  I think it's supposed to be 4" OAL. But I don't have the original TM to make sure. 

 

Yes, I see the one flyer on each. Shuddup.... Shaddup shudding up.

 

 

 

New Acquisition

So, thinking I would be out bid on an auction, I bid on a rifle at 5 bucks over the opening price. And No One Else Bid On It for the entire 14 days it was up.... :-/

 

Go. Team. Me... I guess.

 

Meet my newest. Everything I checked on it says it's all correct Saginaw parts except the Winchester slide and an unmarked bolt.

 

It's the correct early 2 rivet wood, but there's no proof marks or manufacturers marks on it. So, that's a guess too.

 

Serial number puts it in the early production contract, but it has a type II rear sight, although correct for Saginaw. The barrel, recoil pad and receiver are all Saginaw and appear to be original.

 

It's a bit of a conundrum.

 

No pitting anywhere that I can see it. And the no rust either. All in all, I think I scored a very good carbine at a nice price.

 

Anyway pic:

 

 

You have to give props...

Where props are due.

He sure can take any situation and make it about himself. For good or ill.

This is my shocked face....

:-/

So, the great 0 broke another law and everyone (not a drone) is all up in arms.

Oh come on you guys, he just broke that one little law, it was just a little one, that he signed, but he totally made a note that he thought it restricted him too much, so there's that. And... he totally had a good reason and was kinda rushed, so that counts too. Because who hasn't sped when they were rushed on the road, amirite? And it's not like the 5 guys he let go weren't the worst of the worst or anything. And we won't see any other kidnappings of US servicemen overseas now because they totally pink swore. honest injun, but not in a racist way.
< / sarcasm >

You know it's summer in Texas.....

You know it's summer in Texas when you can take a shower with only the cold water running and still get a hot shower. It's not there yet, but we're rolling that way with gusto.

Gun store find of the month.

Okay. I seem to have the best luck finding the odd and rare firearm at the mom and pop gun stores in the little mom and pop towns.  That's my dirty little secret.  Evidenced by this little rough gem.

This is a Colt Police Positive Special in .32-20WCF.  Serial number of 113XX, which puts her in the first year of production, 1907-08. She has some patina and a few scratches here and there.  The bore and cylinder looked clean and straight. She still locks up tight too. There a gouge missing on one of the grips, but they're original.  I think I got a helluva price on it.

You see, there's this western wear store in the town "local" to where I'm currently working.  From the outside you wouldn't even know there's a gun counter inside.  But in there, they have a good selection of ammo, handguns, rifles etc.  With this find tucked into the display counter.  There's also a Chinese SKS in there that I might go back for. A Vietnam bring back by a local vet. That gun would be worth it just for the story there.

In related news, I'm seriously curtailing my firearms purchasing for a few months.  There are other big toys that I'm saving up for.  More on that later.

Some thing that's been bothering me.

When Ex-Mayor, Nanny Statist Bloomberg said he was going to spend 50 million dollars to create a grass roots organization, my first thought was that's not how grass roots works. In fact that's the opposite of how grass roots works.  That is exactly how astro turf works though.  Is he that much of a douche that he really thinks you can buy grass roots movements?
 

Range Report

Okay, finally got to the range with the new AR.  I forgot to take any pics, sorry.  But my initial impressions.

The gisselle trigger is like buttah.  For a non-adjustable drop in trigger, that this is a dream.

The scope is geardo giggle worthy.  I zeroed on the 100 yard range and I know that the targets were exactly 94 meters from the shooting bench.

The JP Ent. SCS is interesting. I don't know if it's absorbing more recoil than a standard buffer/spring system, but felt recoil was much less. Still shooting M855 62 gr. Green Tip ammo.

Speaking of, I shot 60 rds of M855, another 40 rounds of Armscor 62 gr, and 80 rounds of M193 Federal.  Not a hiccup or even a hint of a malf.

I have to say that I'm well pleased with this rifle. It's a keeper.

Oh, and I was getting between dime and quarter sized three shot groups at 100. But that probably because I forgot my sandbags and I was shaking a bit.
 

More gratuitous gun pr0n

Just a follow up to the post before last.  I finally got the rail adapter for the bipod.  As mentioned previously, it's a Harris bipod.  The adapter I finally decided on was the Rota-pod quick detach adapter.  So, now the bipod can both tilt and, when unlocked, swivel about 30 degrees left and right. The quick detach is nice. The thing is heavy enough. If need be, I can quickly take the bipod off and stow it.

And finally, for now, I'm thinking of taking the A2 flash hider off and putting some sort of compensator on it.  But I don't know what's out there for compensators much less what are the best for the buck.

(click to embiggenate, of course)

 

If you think about it, it's true.

Conversation on the drive home today.
As we pass a McDonald's semi on the interstate.

Me: Is that actually delivering McDonalds supplies or did they just pay for the advertising?

Pax: McD's owns that trailer...

Me: huh.

Pax: You know what you never see, you never see an Amazon truck.

Me: Sure you do. They're brown and have UPS on the side.

In regards to the previous post.(aka gratuitous gun pr0n)

If you embigginate the pic and look below the brass deflector and the back edge of the ejection port cover you can see the ambi side of the bolt release.  With this, a Norgon ambi-mag release and the ambi safety selector, it's about as ambidextrous as you can get an AR platform. All I've done so far is set the butt stock for comfortable fit and good eye relief on the scope.  The snow today is sort of slowing down any range trips.  I've also rough zeroed the scope and set the ballistics calculator for the flavor of .223 that I have the most of and plan to zero with.  Still haven't mounted the bipod yet. But that's coming.  Like I said, a very fast build for me, only a couple of weeks.

On a semi related note, Scribbler, a friend also in the DFW metroplex, had this to say about the weather.

The Sun is Shining

I can see Grass through the Snow

Classes are Cancelled

Which is an apt and completely unintentional haiku. He has titled it, "LOLTexas"

Just putting this up here.

Really quickly doing an AR marksman / sorta varminter rifle. Actually, Aero Precision has a ambi lower that I wanted to experiment with and this seemed to be a good enough reason to.

So,
Aero Precision Ambi Lower

Bravo Company 18" SPR Mk 12 Upper Receiver

Magpul PRS Stock and MIAD grip system.

KNS Precision for turned pins and non-rotating trigger pins

Wolff Springs for all lower receiver springs

Harris Bipod

JP Enterprise SCS system

Which apparently is a no no on my part, because it eliminates the SPROING of freedom.

 

As for other oddball. I went with Armalite for the buffer tube or receiver extension if you want to be technically accurate. Yes, I'm sure the 15 dollar DPMS tube would have been perfectly fine.

 

That's about all I can remember off hand right now.  I still need to decide on an optic.  I'm seriously looking at Burris, Zeiss and Vortex right now.  But I'm still open to suggestions.

 

Oh, and this is seriously the fastest build I've done. I think it'll be like 2 weeks total from initial order of the lower to assembly.

 

No pics now. Basically everything is still in transit to me. I just wanted to get it all down somewhere so I don't forget what I've put in this one.

Edited to add: I forgot this. A Gissele SSA-E trigger.  I've grown very fond of Rock River's 2 stage NM trigger. To the point I've used it almost exclusively for my AR builds.  This time I wanted to try something different.  Which I sort of failed at. The SSA-E trigger is pretty much Gissele's version of the RRA trigger. But it's a drop in replacement for the stock GI trigger and it's got an operation that is basically what I'm used to in my triggers, so it shouldn't be a stretch to get used to it. 

 

 

 

I swear to god....

You can't make this stuff up.



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