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Thursday, March 17, 2011

Everything has to be a hassle.....

Work was real slow today and when my boss asked if I wanted to go home early, I jumped at the chance. There was something at the house I've been wanting to do for a while but needed a calm day.
Let me start from the beginning.
A few months ago a friends' son shot the family cat with a spring piston air gun thinking it was like a BB gun and would just piss the cat off. Killed that fucking cat dead, man. So Gary needed to get rid of either the air gun or the kid and he called me. I declined the kid but bought the gun for a song, replacing the cheap piece of shit that I had bought just before that.
But what I didn't think about is that California being Kalifornia, it's illegal to shoot any kind of a firearm in city limits. And I gotta tell you, this fucking rifle is LOUD. It's every bit as loud as a 22 Short (remember them?) but not as sharp. And then you gotta think about that pellet slamming into the back fence at 1200 fps. So I haven't been able to shoot for any extended period of time without worrying about the cops showing up.
Okay.
Just off the kitchen facing my big motherfucking backyard is a breakfast nook. After I reassembled the table CGD destroyed when he had that cat on his back I got to looking around and thinking if I shove this table all the way forward, move this bench back, put my rifle vise and/or some sandbags on the table and then build a target holder 5 feet off the ground about 50 feet out....... Fuck, I can shoot in the comfort of my own home, the noise will be contained inside the house, Hank III will be on the stereo and beer is only 12 feet away.
It was fucking perfect. I set everything up, shot my first set of 3, remembered the screen, took it off then fired another group of 3.
That shit was all over the target. I had a 5" spread at 50 feet. In my defense, the sights that came with the gun were still on it along with a Tasco Red Dot gunsight. My sight picture was way too busy with all that shit going on in it, so I pulled the Tasco off because it was rated at 5 MOA @ 100 yards and tried the stock sights. No better - it has fiber-optic sights that are so big I can cover a 6" paper plate with them at 50 feet.
So, now I have a few choices. I can scope the fucker with a decent scope when I can afford that. Or I can stick with iron sights and use luck when popping jays and magpies or I can take the iron sights off and remount the Tasco. I want to scope it but it may be a couple of months before I can come up with the hundred bucks to do that. So it looks like it's all about the Red Dot for now. The only problem with that is that while the rear sights come off with a screwdriver, the front sight is banded on.
Now I'm wondering if the front sight band is a press fit and can I cut it off fairly easily or is it sweated on and it's going to be a bigger hassle than it's worth? I'm also thinking about just cutting an inch off the barrel along with the sight with my cut-off saw - the barrel isn't crowned, so I don't think it's gonna make any difference as long as I grind off any burrs.
But...... I do have a firing range inside my house, I got beer in the icebox and everything else is light shit.
Eat your hearts out, fuckers.

14 comments:

  1. i've been in the market for a new springer....i hear they have nitrogen retrofit kits for certain models as well (much less recoil, same punch)

    would you happen to know what model you've got?

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  2. I've got a small scope you can have. I bought a pair of them (I always buy "spares"!) to mount on my Marlin 18194, but the damn thing has an OCTAGONAL barrel, and I can't find rings to mount the scope!
    Let me know if you're interested, and I can send it up to you.

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  3. My son and I did this some years ago in F'burg. We hung some targets from a tree and opened the kitchen door, set up stools and a bucket of beer, put on the country station loud and let it rip. Good times.

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  4. A bucket of beer? Fuck, I love you, man. Seriously, a bucket?

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  5. I've got a Weaver base mount I'll swap you if they'll fit. You'll have to buy standard rings but it may save you a few bucks. I'll check tomorrow to see if they're flat-based or contoured.

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  6. drjim, there was somehting else I was gonna tell you but I'm seriously fucked up at the moment and forgot what it was. Remind me tomorrow, would you?

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  7. Stig, mine is Swiss Arms or something like that, didn't come with a box - hell, I was lucky it didn't come with a fucking kid - so I'm not sure what model it is.

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  8. Make sure you get a scope for an air rifle. Most air rifles will destroy standard scopes. The recoil impulse is reversed and the sights are not constructed to take the abuse.

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  9. Ha Ha, I use that exact same setup myself (including the beer)now that I have have work at home neighbors-fucking spoil sports that they are. I just use the "iron" sights on my Remington break barrel, never could get the scope to stay put.

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  10. No need to swap for anything, I'll just send you the one I opened up.

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  11. you makin' me jealous again ... I used to set up in the garage (sniper style) with my springer waiting to ambush some squirrels comming to some corn ... beer, tunes, ambushin' some fuckin' squirrels ... good times

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  12. Sweetie, a bucket of beer in the South is a bucket of ice with some long necks.

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  13. No, no. I'm sure he meant a bucket full of beer. It's my fantasy, godammit, let me have it my way.

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  14. The truth can be very painful. Sorry.

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