Suppressed Hunter (and Primary Arms scope)

Seems like I am only apologizing for the neglect of this blog these days.

But no more!  I finally had a few minutes to whip out the camera and take some pics of my suppressed hunting rig.  This started out life as a used NEF Buffalo Classic in the discontinued .45Colt chambering that That Wife  bought me for my birthday about 5 years ago.  The previous owner had goofed up the sights (cut the front dovetail crooked),  and had scratched and dinged it a little.   I was never really happy with it, since the sight height would not work with the peep sight I wanted to put on there, then when I installed a fiber-optic front sight or the right height, I was looking at it crooked.

I got frustrated, and put an old scope I had laying around.  I never shot it much after that.

Then… Texas changed it's hunting laws and allowed suppressors for white-tail deer.  I thought about buying a new can, but the 9 month to a YEAR waiting period that is the new normal put a kibosh on that.  So I started thinking of ways to use my existing .45ACP can to hunt.  I thought about buying a .44Mag lever action, threading it, and using .44Specials… then I thought of threading my .357 Marlin or Rossi Ranch Hand… YHM said the suppressor would work with .357, but would not be really quiet.   Then I thought of a .45Colt lever gun, and it struck me- use the NEF!

I had my new 'smith thread it, mounted up the can, and sighted it in.  I had all sorts of fun shooting it till the first day of hunting season, and the ancient Wetherby scope took a dump.  Just up and died on me- started hitting a foot low, and would not adjust.

So, for Christmas, I got a new Primary Arms 1-4x24 illuminated dot rifle scope that immediately went on top.  It works real well on this rig and matches up well for being an anachronism.

I have not been able to take a deer or hog with it yet, just because by the time I got the rig ready to go, hunting season was pretty much over.  But I am ready for next year!

If you can find the non-sequitor in the photos, leave a comment!

No, it's not the two types of ammo

You can see the suppressor when the scope is at 1x power

The Primary Arms scope exceeded all of my expectations for a $120 scope.  Bright, crisp, clear, and sighted it very quick and easy.  The illuminated dot is perfect for close range hunting.  I am actually happier with this scope than I am the Burris Timberline on my CZ-527 Carbine.  It loses in a low-light comparison with my Leupolds, but that is the only ding I have against the scope.

Smith Enterprise, Inc. (SEI) M14 Barstock Receiver

It seems that Smith Ent. likes to sue people for posting bad reviews of their products online.

So, I just wanted to add my little part to the Google search fiasco and say:

DON'T BUY FROM SMITH ENTERPRISE.  THEY SUE PEOPLE FOR POSTING BAD REVIEWS ONLINE

Bad luck- I haz it

Have I  ever mentioned that I have bad luck, particularly with guns?

I think I may just have mentioned it before.

So, a few days ago, I got the wild hair to build an AK pistol.  Mostly because I could not find one for sale for a reasonable price.  So, I bought a parts kit, got some tools, almost bought a receiver flat, bending die, and shop press... but just went ahead and ordered a NoDakSpud receiver and had it shipped to my FFL.

In the meantime, I should have seen it coming.  Things were going too smoothly.

Then the first thing happens.  A box of parts shows up covered in BBQ sauce.

Well, the receiver is supposed to show up today, so last night I track the package.

This is your luck on 'That Guy'... Any questions?

I track it again this morning, and it says the same thing AGAIN.
I google news about anything happening in Peru, IL and find that there is a minor flood in the area.  That can't be it, so I email NoDakSpud, and find out that UPS had a freaking train derail near Chicago, and my AK receiver was in the middle of it.

Just to add insult to injury, I look for the train wreck on the news.  Just to see if it was something like a bridge collapse, hit a truck, anything like that.  Nope.  It was a freak gust of wind.

Well, I now have a name for my AK Pistol:
TRAINWRECK

Stage 1 testing CZ P-07 Duty

On my way out the door this morning, I grabbed the freshly repaired P-07 Duty, just in case I could run to the range at lunch. I was in a hurry, and grabbed nothing but the gun and spare mag.

I was able to run to the local indoor range for 20 minutes. Bought 100 rounds of S&B 9mm, borrowed eyes and ears at the range and started loading mags.

This is the last time it will be clean for a while.

I went to work on double taps, working on form and trigger reset. As before, this gun is very accurate, but really needs a sight upgrade. Think that's on my Christmas list for this year.

No jams, no malfunctions. One instance of the slide slamming forward as a fresh mag was inserted, and one time of the slide not locking back- but my offhand thumb might have interfered with the lockback.

Empty brass. A MUCH better way to enjoy lunch.

The testing continues. I will not carry this again until I get at least 400 trouble free rounds through it. I do believe that this gun is worth the work. 16 rounds of hyper accurate 9mm carried C&L in a package roughly the same size as a Glock 19, yet handles better than a Glock to me. Not that I dislike Glocks, but I like this gun better- and it's controls match the 1911 and CZ-75 which is where all my training lies.

CZ P-07 Duty is home!

Yesterday, while I was hard at work, the Fed Ex man brought back my wayward 9mm CZ.

Backstory:
When I first got the gun, I went back to CZ-USA and they replaced the gun for an out of spec frame that caused the mags to stick in the grip.
It developed a problem.
It went back to the mothership

I got home last night, and started dry firing. YAY! The hammer fell all the way to the pin 100% of the time. Awesome. Now I need to get a few hudred rounds of 9mm and go burn ammo and make totally sure it works.

I started doing drills and slapped the magazine that went back to CZ with the gun into the mag well. I hit the release to drop that mag out, and it stuck in the mag well.

I just about came unglued. I was going to call CZ and rip them a new one. I could not believe my freaking luck... but I stopped, took a deep breath and looked deeper into the issue.

CZ gave the gun a deep clean while it was back in Kansas City, and left a lot of oil inside the magazine well. I wiped that out, and the mags dropped free 100%. Man, I almost gave myself a heart attack freaking out over that.

The gun is back home in my safe. It seems to be working. CZ-USA is making it right. This has been a pretty damn good August for me.

You can't go home again... but guns can!

Looks like 45er's new pocket gun is going back to the Mothership in Florida.

He mentioned that this is his first gun to go in for repairs.

Wow.... really? That kind of surprised me that someone with that large of a collection has only had one issue. Because I have had- um... let me count
Taurus PT-22: Broken Hinge pin
Taurus 617: Frozen Cyl
Taurus PT-92: Sent in twice for jamming
Taurus 445: Sent in twice for Frozen Cyl
Kimber Pro Carry II: Schwartz safety not disengaging
CZ-2075 RAMI: Sent in 4 times for jamming and eventually replaced
CZ P-07 DUTY: Sent in for sticking Mags, and is now at the factory for the hammer stopping at half cock
Charter Bulldog: Cyl star installed incorrectly
S&W 325PD: Cyl latch just fell off (that one did not have to be sent in, so we will count as a half)
Kahr MK9: Captive recoil spring assembly un-captivated itself (Did not need a return, Kahr sent me a new assembly next day air. Count this as a half)
Survival Arms AR-7: needed new barrel for out of spec chamber. Not returned but done by gunsmith since Survival Arms was out of business.
Plainfeild Machine .30 Carbine: Broken extractor. Sold for parts.
Marlin Papoose: Constant jamming. Burred chamber and weak extractor. Traded for a Spyderco knife
Marlin 1895C: the Dreaded Marlin Jam. It was 6 months out of warranty. Got the part from Midway and fixed it my own damn self.

I have had NINETEEN breaks/ returns/ repairs. Man, when I sit down and count them, that makes me depressed.

So, what about you? Have you had to send anything back, get a manufacturing defect taken care of? Post a comment. Let me know if I'm above or below average.

P-07 Duty packed up and ready to ship

My nifty little CZ P-07 Duty is all packed up and going to go to FedEx at lunch for the quick trip back to CZ-USA today. She just ain't functioning right.

I was packing it up in a hurry this morning, and I could not find the original box in my stack of CZ boxes. So I made a little dig at this being the SECOND time that I am having to send this back by packing it up in a box from a complete piece of garbage that I no longer own:

Subtle?

Back in the early days of being a projectile enthusiast, I was poor and did not know better. I bought a bunch of Taurus junk guns. I ended up sending a LOT of them back to the factory. I experienced an 80% rate of returning to be fixed, and then 50% of those had to be sent back for repairs again.

So I got rid of all the Tauri. I traded a PT92C and a PT22 for my first CZ. Now I am having to send back CZs for multiple trips home. This is how you get on my shitlist.

I'll take a deep breath and see how this pans out. I am loyal to a brand that takes care of me. Check out my story on the Charter Arms Bulldog. I understand that a mistake can be made, and a faulty product can go out, and need to be fixed. I also know that I have bad luck, and it is not just 'affordable' guns like the CZ, Charter , and Taurus that take a dump on me. I have had to get a brand spanking new Kimber worked on, and the other day while I was carrying it, the cylinder latch on my S&W 325PD .45ACP just fell right the hell off the gun. [I found the little screw, but the latch got eaten by Gnomes. S&W sent me a new latch, no charge.]

The point of this is to say- 'CZ, I own a whole pile of your guns*. My purchases alone have probably paid for 1-2 employees. I recommend your guns to everyone I can. Please don't make me start disliking you. '

*I even own and use a CZ-100. Seriously.

Duty is Down! Back to CZ with you!

"Once is happenstance. Twice is coincidence. The third time it's enemy action."

I guess this one will be marked 'Coincidence.' My great little carry gun has developed a flaw... I never noticed it until a couple of days ago I cleaned out all the dust bunnies. After reassembly, I was dry firing it on Double Action, and about 25% of the time the hammer would stop on half cock. Puzzled, I started looking closer and noticed it only happened when fired with my right hand. Left hand, 100% fall to the pin. I never shoot this gun double action, and it has never failed in live fire... but that is most definitely a problem.

So, I did some googlin' and found that there are some CZ P-07 Duty guns out there that have/ had that issue. I called CZ-USA, and they issued an RMA and are going to email me FedEx labels.

Now, this will be the SECOND time that I have sent a Duty back to CZ. The first one was replaced due to the frame being out of spec, causing the mags to stick in the mag well.

I like this gun. It shoots great, is very accurate, and I can carry it all day in a Blade-Tech UCH holster under a t-shirt.

But if this thing breaks again, it is gone.

I love CZ, and have about... well, what the media would consider 'an arsenal' of CZ guns. I am a bit of a collector of them. But this is getting ridiculous. The last CZ I bought before this was one of the CZ-2075 RAMIs in .40S&W. It had feed issues, and after 2 trips to the factory, they finally got it to work- but I traded it for a Glock 27.

CZ, the ball is in your court. Do NOT make me sell this gun and get a Glock 19.

And while I'm asking for favors, can you sell the extra mags for less than $43? That is just mean.