Thank you, MSgt B

I met up with MSgt B and his brother-in-law yesterday early at the NRA Range. Turns out his brother-in-law lives about a half mile from me and our kids go to the same school. Small world.

They each had Ruger P345s. (As I recall, MSgt B is a bit of a Ruger fan-boy like me.) I had never shot one before, and so they let me have a turn. Not bad, but the recoil was more than I was expecting. Still, it was fairly easy to score bulls-eye at 21 yards (well, for me. :) )

I brought out the Mini-14 and ran several IDPA torso targets all the way down (50yds). Most of my shots were zero-down, center-mass while free-standing. The few that weren't I attribute to pulling the trigger when the red dot was not centered (also, the scoring lines on an IDPA target are not visible at 50yds). So it may not be bench rest accurate, but it is kill-shot accurate enough for practical shooting for around here.

There was one problem. I noticed the rear clamp on the barrel strut was making its way forward after awhile. When I got it home, this is what I found.

I've moved it back and tightened up the clamp. If that becomes a repeated problem, the strut is coming off. I'm not convinced it adds to any accuracy, though I do know that it helps cool the barrel faster.

And perhaps I didn't mention this before. I have an Aimpoint CompM3 mounted on it with one Warne 30mm QD mount (actually meant for a Ruger M77, but it works). I like that A LOT. Don't be surprised if you see all my guns transitioned to Aimpoints.

CTone alerted me to a deal on an RRA CAR Elite A2 at Green Top. Sooo tempting! But in the end I stayed around the house and do yard work with my wife and kids. My wife actually encouraged me to go get it, but in the end I felt that would have been a very selfish thing to do... having spent the morning at the range and planning for a couple of hours of Judo tonight (and I'm gone for an entire week next Saturday). A 5 hour trip to buy an AR15 simply would be over the top.

Instead, I think I'm gonna build my AR15. Stay tuned...