27 Mar 02

>From a friend who is a gun retailer in MI:

"Glock 23's are still our best selling handgun, followed closely by the G19. However, the G36 is now in a close third place, and gaining.

We are also selling a lot of scandium S&W snubbies. Nothing else made by S&W is selling at all.

Your friends in OK sell a lot of Kimbers, but here in MI it's the Para Ordinance LDA. We can't keep them in stock. Many of the Kimbers we have sold have come back with broken manual safety levers and slide stop levers. Kimber is good about fixing them, but broken parts do not endear a manufacturer to its customers.

Earlier this month, we got in a shipment of H&K 9mm USPs with their LEM trigger. They all sold out the first few days. It's a popular pistol, but we can't seem to get any more. As usual, H&K is asleep at the switch!

But, the brand with the biggest parts breakage problem is Taurus. Their PT series in 45ACP and 40S&W are coming back to us with large cracks in their aluminum frames, in some cases after as few as one hundred rounds. Manual safety levers and disassembly levers are also breaking off. Not our favorite pistol!

DSA FALs and Robinson Arms RA96s usually go out the door within two days of arriving. Colt and Bushmaster AR sales are also brisk.

All the above have been strong since September, and, with our new statewide CCW law, concealment holsters are now becoming a big part of our lives."

/John

27 Mar 02

Of rifle sights, from a student in the Midwest:

"I shot a tactical rifle match at my gun club today. I used my Ruger Mini-14 set up with an Aimpoint Comp-M red dot sight, the one that all the special ops' people supposedly use.

On the 4th stage the battery (which I had JUST installed) went DEAD. The scope was immediately unusable, and I couldn't access my iron sights because the base was in the way. I had to finish using my handgun.

I was able to borrow a friend's Mini-14, which I used to finish the match. It was set up with a Trijicon ACOG Reflex sight. This sight is NOT powered by batteries, but rather has a self-luminous, tritium reticle. It worked well, until it started raining! Water droplets on the lens quickly rendered the sight unserviceable. Once again, I was forced to abandon the rifle and finished the stage with my pistol!

Needless to say. I'm back to iron sights! I've been TOLD, but never listened."

Lesson: Iron sights work. Something else might not!

/John

28 Mar 02

More on rifle sights from a friend in the Northeast:

"We just had an Urban Rifle exercise at our range on Saturday evening. The entire exercise took place at night. Temperature was in the thirties and dropping. You could see your breath. It had been raining all day, so everything was wet. Humidity was near 100%. It was dead calm. We had flood lights at the back of the range turned on and shining uprange, toward the shooters.

Under these conditions, all shooters struggled. All sighting systems were difficult to use.

Everyone with optical sights (particularly those with high magnification) discovered that light shining on the objective (front) lens washed out the target, breaking down most of the contrast. Detail was difficult to make out. They were forced to move the rifle left and right repeatedly in order to make out the targets from the background. Water droplets on the objective lens made things worse. We could see shooters straining and hunching their shoulders in order to get their heads closer to the scope.

Fogging was also a problem, mostly due to the shooter's own breath. Lenses had to be constantly wiped off. Using a white handkerchief for this purpose did nothing to enhance the shooter's concealment! Shooters had to learn to exhale away from the scope.

When correct stance, grip, and cheek weld were restored, competent shooting was reinstated with most shooters. We all learned that correct and consistent cheek weld is critical when rifles are equipped with scopes.

Those using iron sights had challenges too, though not as egregious. The downrange flood lights were positioned off to the right. The effect was that the front sight was highlighted on the right, leaving the left side dark. As a result, most shots were biased to left. The same situation can be created by the sun in daylight. Front sight posts were less affected than were front sight blades.

Targets were illuminated via a dim, red light placed several feet in front. All shooters found this frustrating. Targets could be clearly seen with the naked eye, but, through scopes and iron sights alike, one had to strain in the extreme in order to make out anything. At twenty-five meters, most shooters were still able to achieve high scores. However, when we moved back to fifty meters, hit percentages fell dramatically. They were restored somewhat when shooters reminded themselves to focus on the front sight, not the target. With scopes, they had to learn to watch the reticle, not the target.

Because there was no wind, smoke, hanging in the air in front of the muzzle, also became a problem. It is far more difficult to see through than is the shooter's breath. Many shooters were thus forced to shift position laterally in order to get clear vision. The most smoke was generated by PMC, Winchester, and IMI. Federal generated the least.

PMC also generated, by far, the biggest and brightest muzzle flash. Flash suppressers help, but one gets a substantial fireball with every shot in any event. Hornady TAP ammunition displayed the dimmest and smallest amount of flash."

/John