Shrouded Muzzle Brake V2.0

So, a while back I wrote about an experiment of mine putting a shroud around a muzzle brake to redirect the gasses and noise forward down range instead of at the shooters on the line around me. Well I have since built version 2.0 and range tested it. I took the Holland quick Discharge brake and made a shroud for it. Since pressure is not a huge issue out here at the end of the barrel I made the shroud out of aluminum so there is not much added weight. While it is no Flaming Pig or a Krink, it does an excellent job for me. It works well as a muzzle brake and the shock wave is sent pretty much down range just as if the brake is not on it. Definitely cuts the recoil well as the work is done when the high speed gasses exit behind the bullet and hit the cuts in the brake. Very happy with the results and NO I will not be offering them for sale. I am not set up for manufacturing or sales so that idea is out.

P-Mag Mag Clips

Couple weeks ago in the fun shoot, we had the chance to play with FireBird MagPull P-Mag Mag Clips from Springer Precision. That's a mouth full.

OPINION:
I don't like clipping, taping or otherwise attaching two mags together in any way for a variety of reasons. If they are back to back, you are putting the feed lips and top (bottom) round as the low point on the gun so anytime you drop to the ground or over a hood or other hard object, the first thing that hits is the mag feed lips and top round. This also will force the mag up into the mag well and nothing good can come of that. If you clip them together side by side, at some point you are going to have one mag or the other up alongside the ejection port. I know it will be slightly below the port but that still puts something in the way alongside the port side of the gun. Just not something I am comfortable with. There is also the issue with the movement, firing and jolting of the gun possibly dislodging the top round in the spare mag. I am not comfortable with this happening or the possibility of this happening. For that reason, I am a huge fan of the Ready Mag and having the first spare mag on the gun attached in a mag well like device. Keeps the top round in place and firmly holds the mag in place till ready to use. Ejecting the spent mag also releases the fresh mag. I use it and practice with it and like that method. Just my NSHO.

RESULTS:
That said, with P-Mags, this device seems to work well. You remove the base late from each mag and slide the mag into the mag clip instead. Handy, not too heavy additionally. Holds firmly. Didn't get to torture test it with lots of banging around but the aluminum construction tells me this thing is made to last. It comes in two flavors, 20/30 and 30/30. So you can have two 20 round mags or one 20 and one 30. I can see the utility of the 20/30 as an interesting concept. With a 20 round mag in the gun and the 30 round mag as a spare, The mags don't stick out too far and the spare is up higher along the left side of the gun. The when the 20 is dry, you switch to the 30 and that gives you 30 more rounds and puts the 20 rounder out of the way of the ejection port. In the limited space of a patrol car I could see the space savings as a plus. So, for its intended purpose I think this one fills the bill.

Definitely an interesting concept but it will only work with P-Mags as the base plate design is very specific. Doesn't work with standard metal AR mags so those of us with a collection are out of the loop. No big for me at all. For those of you heavily invested in P-Mags, this may be something for you to consider.

Range Win Day

So, had a class this morning and got to shoot some with docbot. Doc learned that with a few very minor tweaks, he needs to shoot faster. Other than that, we hung out and did some fun shooting after class and generally had a fun time at the range. Great weather, great company, out on the range shooting, doesn't get any better than that.
Except now I have to go to work (the day job) to get things setup for Monday.

Ah, what a day!

UPDATE: docbot wrote up his review. Thanks for the kind words doc. IT really was a joy on the range Saturday. Great people and good shooting. That's what it's all about. The day really was made of WIN!

Gun Fit Rant

OK, to tired to really do this justice but I'll try while I wind down. Long day today. Defensive Pistol Skills and Beyond the Basics classes today. Two great groups of students and a beautiful day.
Anyway, the rant is gun fit. Shooting is an equipment intensive activity. Having a gun that fits can make the difference between it being impossible, hard and easy to shoot well. It is always interesting to what students will show up for class with in the way of guns and how they fit or don't fit. When a person has small hands, there are few choices. S&W has the M&P with changeable back straps as does Springfield with the new XDm. However, even those choices are not always adequate. There are also those who have hands larger than average that cannot find a grip large enough to properly fit their hand. For small hands there is always a single stack 1911 with a short trigger. However, that is not the first choice for most people. Shooters are always amazed at the difference it makes when they canot seem to get their shots into the center of the target and we switch their gun out for one of our loaners and their shooting magically improves greatly. Unfortunately, this is usually a result of lack of or flat out bad advice from the gun shop where they bought their gun coupled with their lack of sufficient knowlege of gun fit and choice when they're shopping.
More on other topics after a bit of sleep

Why I Teach

Today reminded me why I like to teach shooting classes. We had two basic level intro classes back to back. 50/50 mix of men and women, more than 50% had never shot before. People were learning about shooting and paying attention to the details. Good trigger control and sight alignment. Basically drilling the center out of the targets for the most part. some of them got a bit excited and after a couple shots started jerking the trigger. After stopping them and taking a breather they went right back to drilling the center of the target. So, the students really had the skills developing and just needed to focus and they were doing great. LOTS of big smiles and happy new shooters. Great big wonderful day at the range.

Range WIN

So, long day, left at 06:30 and jsut got home 20:00. Had two basic intro classes today, more about them later. In between classes I was able to get a little trigger time myself. John, another instructor and I shot a qual course that we are planning for graduates of Defensive Pistol Skills to flesh it out and see if time and score constraints are reasonable.

In addition, I ran a few rounds through the M4gery to test out a new muzzle brake. I had used a Holland Quick Discharge and while it basically eliminates recoil completely, problem is to do this it redirects so much gas that it causes a major shock wave that really disturbs the other shooters on the line and especially students. During a match one shooter at a time it is not a problem, during a class this is very bad for the students. So, I had been cooking up a design for a smaller brake that would cut down on recoil some but not blow that other folks on the line away. So, I took a 0.750 dia, two chamber brake and added a shroud around it to redirect gasses to the front so the shock wave goes down range with the muzzle blast the god intended. Well, I have to say it cuts recoil some but not as much as the Holland, However, the noise for the shooter and those on the line is much better. There is still a loud report but it is directed away from the shooter. Very pleasant to shoot. I think I still need to make a few tweeks but think I have a winner.

Great Primer Shortage of '09

Talk to the Dad in Law last night, The local shooting supply house got a shipment of 300,000 primers in last week. He needed small pistol primers and went in to pick some up. The shop owner told him he sold 150,000 of the primers IN THE FIRST DAY! That's a run. A week later, he is sold out completely.

Buy em while you can folks because if they can't ban guns, they are going to make ammo non existent before the war.

Chuck gives the finger

The Mrs and I are sitting here watching Chuck when Sarah and Casey get into trouble and a british agent Cole is with Chuck and decides to go in and rescue them. He pulls out two guns and is loading them and basically fondling them. Chuck comments "two guns huh? you really are a badass." and Cole replies, no, one is for you. He hands Chuck the gun and the Mrs immediately says, "Hey look he indexed his finger." Fortunately my mouth was not full at the time. Gotta love it!!

UPDATE
Well being hollywierd and all, of course Chuck adn Cole are on their way in to save the day and Chuck gets hung up in the window and drops his gun.



Wait for it..........


And the gun goes off as it hits the floor! DAMN, and I was really enjoying this.

Range Safety Rant

Range Safety, Etiquette, and General Firearms Safety

So, out of a range trip, how much time do you spend actually lining up the sights and pressing the trigger? Five percent maybe? So how do you handle your gun the other 95% of the time? That is what differentiates shooters from a person with a gun!

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I don't care if you can shoot a 1000yd group that you can cover with you hand or can shoot 2 shots into 20 targets in 5 seconds and get perfect hits on each target, if you step away from the bench and point your muzzle at another person YOU ARE A GOOBER. The rules for gun safety apply all the time and unfortunately, common sense has become all to uncommon.

You do not handle your gun to change mags so you can top off the mag in your gun while standing around behind the firing line. While you may keep you finger off the trigger and have the gun pointed at the dirt near your feet and the gun is being used on the range so it is loaded, you still do not do this. If people are down range of you, even if you are on the firing line, you do not handle your gun. Even if it is "unloaded"!

You know what kind of gun most people are shot with accidentally? An UNLOADED one. Famous last words of "It's OK, it's unloaded" are all too often followed by a very load bang. Just as you should know what condition your gun is in at all times. If you "unloaded it, you should be sure that you cleared the chamber as well as dropped the mag. While that is common sense, it happens all the time and again leads to the gun going bang when it shouldn't.

If you got a new gun and want to show off how big your caliber is, do it on the line or at a safety area for handling guns. Don't just whip it out in the parking lot or behind the line thinking "it's OK, it's unloaded"! IT IS MOST CERTAINLY NOT OK!

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No, I wasn't shot at class this weekend and no, no one else was. I did get to see a couple of muzzles and corrected improper/unsafe behavior. Hopefully lessons learned and I will never have to worry about these people again.

And a note for instructors and other range goers, DO NOT PANIC when something like this occurs. If you scream, jump, run or otherwise do something to startle the offending armed person, they may very well jerk the trigger in panic. Calmly, approach the problem quickly and get the gun into a safe position and walk the offending gun holder to a safe area and explain the error of their ways and that you do not appreciate seeing the muzzle of their gun. You may add that "If you show me yours, I'll show you mine" does apply in this situation and you would have been perfectly justified in pulling your loaded gun and taking aim at them while diving for cover. If they do not take the correction well, invite them to leave the range or leave yourself. It is not worth your life to spend more time on the range with them.

Force on Force Class

So, this weekend is Force on Force class. An entire day of FoF training. we break the class up into two groups, one inside doing scenarios with red guns in the range house and the other group outside in a shoot house we setup with barricades and plasticore sheets hung up under one of the range covers and use airsoft and simunitions for shooty FoF scenarios. It is a long day for the instructor staff and promises to be tiring but it seems I always learn something from the students in each class. Someone does something different that I haven't seen. Sometimes unexpected. Should be a long but good weekend.
Then a week off and a reloading class. Need to get prepped for that one as I'm the lead instructor for that class.