A month or two ago, before my trip to Springfield Armory museum, I drove down to NRA HQ and checked out the museum. It is a great museum with a wide variety of firearms, old guns, new guns, rare guns common guns you name it it is there. It’s a free museum you will need to hit and intercom by the door and the security guard will buzz you In, I assume to keep the crazies out.

There are so many firearms its a little overwhelming. They break it up in too many sections for me to name, movie guns, 1911s, guns of all the major US wars, Camp Perry, other competitive shooting, law enforcement, and a shooting gallery.

I have way too many pictures to caption time all if you have any questions leave a comment ill try to remember what it was.

Check out their website for more details NRA museum

All pictures are my property and may not be used without my permission.

The first floor is half rifles and weapons the other half is about the production methods. We spent about an hour there including a bit driving around to see the building where Garands were produced. That building is now a warehouse and business of some sort.

The second floor is the archives and is only available to tour with special permission to do research. Maybe next time Garand Thumb Blog can get a press pass.

There wasn’t a lot of people there so we spent some time talking to the ranger. One thing he pointed out was back in the day SA was like NASA i.e. government funded research to spur private development. Hence why there are so many gun manufactures in the valley, Colt, S&W, Remington, and once upon a time HRA. At least, according to him.

Below are some pictures from the trip.

I spent some time working on the elevation for both my 1917 and Garand for both the conversion to 6 o’clock hold and to figure out why I was so low at the York match. I got that all worked out then spent some time working on my prone position, which I am now feeling much more confident in.

I practiced prone with my A2 and raised the elevation a bit so I could use 6:00 hold with this rifle too. I am very happy with it’s performance so far. I tried my hand at shooting sitting which I have literally never tried before. After trying to imitate the “crossed ankles position” I settled into some sloppy variation of it that seems to work OK for me. This has given me the courage up to sign up for the next NRA highpower match and bring my A2 in a few weeks!

Kimberton has a nice new slab for shooting prone.

Think I have enough stuff?

Don’t tell Bloomberg about my assault clips.

I found my “scoring cheat sheet” which is just a print out of the scoring indicator positions(below) taped to my clipboard to be very handy is match as I couldn’t read the numbers by the indicator with my scope. I would strongly recommend anyone who’s memory is as poor as mine to print this out and keep it handy.

As far as the match itself I made the mistake of passing on my last 2 sighters and it turned out my elevation wasn’t nearly where it should and I struggled to hold over to compensate. I should have known better. Per normal I did fairly well in rapid prone, after I brought the rear sight up. I’m going to spend some extra time practicing this weekend.

Here are some pictures from the match.

Have gun will travel

If you are not familiar with the different sight pictures CMP has a very detailed article with pictures and everything here: http://www.odcmp.org/0907/USAMU_SightPicture.asp

The short explanation is for point of aim you put the top of the post at the center of the black. For 6 o’clock you put the bottom of the black at the top of the front sight post.

I switched for constancy and my worsening vision. Too often I have been struggling to see how much black is at the top of my sight post. Hopefully this will help me get the same picture every time.

I have also made some bold changes to my prone position at the end of last season. I’ve been fighting with cheek weld and “muscling” the rifle in prone. Instead of keeping my hand all the way out against the sling swivel I have pulled it in to where the stock curves down to the mag plate. This allows me keep the rifle a bit higher which fixes my cheek weld. I also get better skeletal support and strain less to stay on target. This should give me a better natural point of aim, more constancy and hopefully better scores.

I have both and they each have advantages.

The Glock 26 is more concealable and gives you more carry options, i.e. pocket carry. I also find the 26 prints noticeably less in the same holster when compared to the 19. The glock 26 will take the Glock 17,19, and 26s magazines.

The Glock 19 has higher capacity and can be a little more comfortable to shoot because of the longer grip.

The 26 gets a lot of criticism for its short grip. Yes your pinky will “hang” but with a little practice you’ll be able to shoot the 26 as well or better than the 19.

I’m not a big fan of using pinky extension magazines in the 26. The biggest advantage the 26 has going for it is it’s concealability an extension defeats the purpose. If you practice with the extension because it is easier you will likely carry with the standard magazine and your training may not translate.

My official recommendation: get both, they compliment each other nicely.

Pictures to compare the two

Glock 26 using Glock 19 magazine

Glock 19 and 26 sharing the same crossbreed supertuck made for a glock 19

Printing of the Glock 26 in crossbreed supertuck

Printing of the Glock 19 in the same crossbreed supertuck

There are three set screws one on either side of the FSB and one on the bottom. To adjust the windage, loosen the bottom screw just a bit, loosen the screw on the opposite side in which you want to move POI and tighten the screw on the other side. So if you want to move POI to the right loosen the screw on the left.

Elevation works the same as any other front sight post if you want POI to move up turn the front sight post clockwise, in the direction of the “up” arrow.

I’m very happy with the WOA it performed very nicely. I did remove the handgaurd weight as it seemed to open the groups up a bit. I may make some other changes to balance it better as its a little butt heavy.

The event was a huge success with a high turnout!

Several state legislators spoke at the event in support of our gun rights for about 45 minutes then most of the crowd went inside and met with other lawmakers.

The CeasefirePA folks on the other hand put up a good show, for a small AstroTurfed crowd.

They bussed in a much smaller crowd, mostly from Philadelphia, per their Facebook page.

The CeasefirePA “protesters” just before rushing from their free lunch to the east rotunda for a photo op.

photo courtesy of “Shisno” from PAFOA

I have used raw linseed oil in the past between seasons on my match Garand. However, this one is well beyond what a coat or two of linseed oil will fix.

I used Klean-strip KS-3 stripper and sunnyside pure raw linseed oil. I went with Klean-strip as it is supposed to protect the structure of the wood and raw linseed as it makes a more “traditional” finish.

First I stripped it down, WEAR GLOVES WHEN USING STRIPPER! This stuff is harsh on the skin it ate through my gloves several times. I applied it thick and then wiped it off with a scotchbrite pad.

I also steamed the stock with an old iron, over a tub of water I soaked an old towel and pressed the towel against the stock with the hot iron, this pulled out some of the dents and also brought out a lot of the dirt and grime. Be careful not to electrocute yourself.

At some point in this process I replaced the front handguard with a used handgaurd from SARCO and stripped and steamed it the same as the rest of the stock.

After it was all stripped I went over it gently with the scotchbrite pad which sanded out some of the remaining dents. This stock was of no particular value and had no markings so no value was lost.

Once I was happy with it, I started applying linseed oil. Raw linseed dries very slowly and will absorb into the stock so it’s important to apply it in very thin coats. I hand rubbed a light coat, just dipped my finger tips in the linseed and rubbed until the wood absorbed it. I did this once a week for several weeks then once a month for a few months.

Don’t leave any linseed oil “on” the stock it should not look slick or wet after application. Wait a couple weeks before shooting it to keep it from warming up and getting sticky.