Brian Nelson

Jenks Carbine

Brian — Thu, 02 Sep 2010 23:44:33 +0000

While I was in DC for Glenn Beck’s 8-28 rally with my Mom and sister, Mom took me to the Navy museum at the DC Navy Yard. The Museum is really cool, basically a warehouse filled with every bit of Navy history from it’s founding to sailors in the sands of Iraq.

While there I saw an interesting black powder rifle designed in 1841 and used by the Union navy during the Civil War, the Jenks breechloading carbine.

The rifle is loaded with a paper cartridge by sliding the bolt back and placing it in the barrel.

The primer is then placed over the nipple on the right side of the carbine (different than most rifles of the day).

This seems like a good idea as it would be faster than the Reb muzzleloaders, I wonder why it wasn’t widely used?

250 .40 rounds for sale cheep, thx Gaston Glock.

Brian — Thu, 02 Sep 2010 22:59:29 +0000

Ok, I’m kinda angry at Gaston Glock right now. Why? I just loaded 400 rounds of .40. And out of that 400 rounds, 250(!!) failed the case gauge! This is from a batch of brass we got pre-polished from a local sheriff’s deputy. He didn’t shoot it, but I assume it mostly came out of Glocks. Glock .40 barrels aren’t fully supported around the mouth, so when a round is fired the case bulges out.

The black barrel is a Glock factory, the grey is an aftermarket. The cases have been colored in red. The big red portion on the left will bulge outwards when it fires. This will jam in the tighter chamber of just about everything but a Glock.

I’m thinking about setting up a Redding G-RX push through die on a $24.00 Lee single stage press (I reload on a Dillon) and feeding rounds that fail the case gauge through that. I’m just not sure if I should be feeding live rounds through it or not.

The 870 project

Brian — Sat, 21 Aug 2010 05:34:13 +0000

I’m back from Idaho. Got in 11:30 sunday night and was busy most of yesterday.

My Uncle Kevin, a policeman, has tasked me with kitting up an old Remington 870 into a ”tactical” home defense shotgun. He gave me a $150.00 budget and gave me a rough idea of what he wanted.

I’ve so far ordered a ProMag collapsable (M-4 style) stock and tri-rail forend from CheaperThanDirt, and a Choate 3-round magazine extension (adds capacity from 5 shells in the forend tube to 8 rounds in the extended tube), Vang Comp ”Big Speed” safety (a bigger, dome-shaped crossbolt safety to replace the tiny factory one), a fiber-optic bead, and some AlumaHyde II (I’ll write a separate post on that later, but it basically paints and protects firearms from rust), as well as the stencils for ACU (digital camo) from Brownell’s.

ProMag Stock on otherwise stock 870

Choate 3 round extension

Vang Comp “Big Speed” safety

Red fiber-optic bead sight

Additionally I won a GunBroker auction for a slightly used factory Remington 18” police barrel, as opposed to the 20+” barrel on a hunting/skeet style 870 like Uncle Kevin has.

18” barrel

26” barrel

When I say Uncle Kevin has an ”old” 870, I mean really old (for a Remington 870). My dad bought an identical one used from the same gun store at the same time in the ’70’s. According to worldguns.ru, the 870 was introduced in 1950. I’ve yet to see the gun, as Uncle Kevin hasn’t done the transfer yet, so I’m not sure how old it really is. I don’t think it’s a collector’s item, but who knows? Also, I’ve been watching videos on YouTube of installing after market parts on 870’s. Unsurprisingly most of the ”tactical” stocks are designed for the newer 870’s, seeing as how this (plus a few extra bullets)-

-was the average police officer’s duty rig back in the ’70’s. Nowadays many patrol officers (not SWAT) are carrying AR-15 rifles like this in their patrol cars.

Rock River LAR-15 made for the Drug Enforcement Agency

I’ll post more on the 870 and maybe about a Ruger 10/22 I did some work on later.

Back to blogging

Brian — Sun, 08 Aug 2010 05:19:00 +0000

My little sister Jenny and I have been on the beaver mountain (and away from Ecto) with my grandparents for a couple weeks, so sorry for the lack of posting. Unfortunately I returned at exactly the same time as my parents returned from San Diego (where my dad had been staying for a month). The 4 of us walked in on a flooded house, courtesy of a busted supply line to a toilet. My dad is CONVINCED that somehow our 4 kittens and their mother had something to do with it.

Evil little saboteur. It’s shifty, you can see it in the eyes.

A couple days ago my Uncle Kevin(the shutterbug/police officer that took the picture) drove up from Ontario, Kaliforniastan, to see Rush in concert in Salt Lake City. How was it? um… I don’t know, maybe just AWESOME!

I shot my first match in about a month today. Uncle Kevin shot with us and did pretty well. How’d I do? Pretty crappy, but that’s why we practice. After the match, Uncle Kevin left for Ontario while Dad, Jenny and I’m in a hotel in Jerome, Idaho.

How a 1911 works

Brian — Mon, 12 Jul 2010 09:16:23 +0000

I found this awesome video on YouTube. Kudos to whoever made it, It looks like it was hard.

Back in the saddle

Brian — Sun, 11 Jul 2010 00:16:45 +0000

The splint finally came off yesterday, after being incarcerated for 3 weeks.

So earlier today I shot a match up in Cedar City. Results haven’t been posted yet, but I’m sure I took second, the winner being Jeff Bailey.

I decided to shoot Dad’s new Open gun as it recoils a lot less than my Limited gun, which wouldn’t hurt my still-tender finger as much. My first time shooting Open, I am already getting the hang of the C-more sight. I didn’t lose track of the dot once.

I thought I did pretty well considering that my finger hurt with every shot (Doctor said that’d be normal), but I’m especially proud of my run on stage 5. In 16 seconds I managed to shoot 15 Alphas, 1 Charlie, and a Texas Star with no makeups.

My rough OpenOffice sketch of Stage 5

Now I think I’ll get back to practicing with my Limited gun, as that’s what I’ll be shooting at this years Nationals down in Las Vegas.

why i’m not shooting

Brian — Fri, 25 Jun 2010 23:51:16 +0000

Here is a picture of the stitches in my right hand trigger finger:

Four on the outside and I’m not sure how many on the tendon.

Back to blogging

Brian — Fri, 18 Jun 2010 23:56:49 +0000

Sorry for the lack of writing, my great uncle Ray passed away a couple weeks ago and I just got back from his funeral.

Unfortunately I will miss the Area 1 championships as while I was reloading for the match I went to open a post office box (containing bullets), the lock on the cheapo folding knife i was using failed and the knife closed on my right trigger finger. 30% of my extensor tendon has been severed so the doc stitched it up and put me in a splint that i’ll have to keep on for 3 weeks.

Dad will be going up to Area 1, so I’ll probably go up with him. I’ll post pics of the splint later.

Next Big Match

Brian — Tue, 25 May 2010 19:32:45 +0000

In June Dad and I are going to the USPSA Area 1 championship. We’re both shooting Limited and will be camping at the range. We’re going to show up early to attend the NROI Range Officer seminar the week before, as well as the Junior Camp.

Here are a few of the stages.

This one looks hard

This one looks fun:

And this looks like a blast!

Have Gun, Will Travel

Brian — Tue, 25 May 2010 03:08:08 +0000

I discovered the Encore Western channel and have been setting DVR timers like it’s goin’ out of style.

So far my favorite is the old series “Have Gun, Will Travel”. If you aren’t familiar with this awesome series, here’s the plot:

Paladin (played by Richard Boone), “a fast gun for hire” living in the Carlton Hotel in San Francisco, well, has a gun and travels. Some of his adventures are more comical than others, all are full of shootouts and fistfights. Somehow the writers would always slip in Paladin’s business card:

And Paladin’s holster:

My only issue with the show: a one ounce trigger pull.

And so I leave you with this: