LONG - LONG Day

This one was going to be different.  I was going plinking with couple of kids from work.  Also, instead of driving out west from Portland Metro area, we were going east towards Mt. Hood.  I usually prefer to take my car, but with it being a crossover, kid that was driving a truck said I should leave it at his house & ride with him.  He was correct.  :D

Saturday morning comes.... I got like maybe 3 hours of sleep, and woke up with a headache.  As I hit the shower, I get a text from one of the kids he didn't get any sleep either & he's bailing.  So it'll be just two of us headed out towards Mt. Hood.

Trail was narrow, steep & many ruts.  Not for crossovers.  -_-

Beautiful up here, but man, so many powerlines......

Finally found a great spot.....  You could shoot past 100 yards here.

From where we were setting targets, looking back to the truck where we were going to shoot from.......

I say were going to shoot from, because the most embarrassing & boneheaded thing happened.  WE BOTH FORGOT TO BRING AMMO.  

Neither of us has ever done this before.  We discussed it for minute, either of us had anything planned for this afternoon, so I suggested we go back & try it again(crying inside).  On the drive back, we text the one kid who bailed this morning, he's up for it now, we regroup & head back to exact same spot.  

Strange looking AK magazine speedloader.  I use stripper clips for my AR mags.

Very cool Mosin Nagant carbine.  I always thought Mosin looked really long, but carbine looks good!(also had bayonet)

He shot his AK real well, from standing.  I shot really poorly.  Between headache, lack of sleep & so much caffeine, sights were dancing around at 120 yards or so.  Perferred to sit & relax, eat.  lol

.44 Magnum out of lever action did this.  It was a homemade steel target though, a test model at that.  I'm sure next one will be little thicker.  Me, I just order these things online.  :D

Bunch of these on the ground under the target!

P.S.  My car is a certified used car I bought from Ford.  2013 Ford Edge, and I think I bought it about 3 years ago.  It was advertised with a 7-year powertrain warranty.  FORD SCAMMED ME. 

This warranty isn't 7 years for you, 7 years started when the vehicle was new.  2013.  Basically, this warranty is never for 7 years if you are buying certified preowned they advertised with 7-year warranty.  Good one Ford.  

I've been fond of Ford Edge since its launch in late 2000's, but it's known to have defective Power Take-Off/Transfer Case, so I would have never bought this car without a warranty.  Shorter Version: Rear differential is going out & this car no longer carried any warranty & without my connection, it would have cost me around $1,500(still cost me $1,100).

Longer Version: A couple of weeks ago, I noticed the transmission wouldn't upshift past the 2nd gear.  I redlined it & got it loose, but whining noise coming from the rear of the car stayed.  

The culprit was the rear differential.  It turns out another Edge owner I know had same unit replaced + it was a in-stock item, so maybe not that uncommon issue with Ford Edges.  Best part was that there's no serviceable part, so you can't repair it,  must buy the complete assembly costing nearly $1,000.

I contacted Ford Customer Service, asked them to please let me show them their own print from 2018 when I bought the car, it clearly says the powertrain is warranted for 7 years(of course they take it back in the fineprint).  All they could tell me was that they'll pass it on as customer feedback.  I told them I'm filing complaint, it's not a feedback, but they showed zero interest.  lol  I have strong connection with Ford, but Toyotas & Hyundais are looking pretty good right about now.  One's far more reliable & other one has ten year powertrain warranty I believe.  :(

Dragon Ball Z: Frieza Final Form?(Probably)

Decent day.  Cloudy, but no showers.  :)

My AR went through a lot of changes since I blogged last:  First new item was the Strike Industries J-Comp muzzle brake/device.  2) Streamlight ProTac Weapon Light & finally 3) Palmetto State Armory lower with Magpul STR stock.  I owned two AR uppers & just one lower, so I've been wanting another lower to complete two AR rifles.  #JoeBidenStimulusCheck

Okay, it came with polymer pistol grip, so I am changing that one with the rubberized Magpul ASAP.  I am very interested in a magnifier for the EOTech red dot, but I almost never shoot long distance(have no place to) + they are very expensive, so it'll be a long while before I give that one a serious consideration.

Really digging the STR stock the PSA lower came with, but I love the UBR stock so much it's really a toss up:

Battery storage's handy.  Storage pocket cover's just removable rubber plugs though.  They should keep the rain out, but that's probably about it.  Now the Streamlight weapon light.......

Got mine from Primary Arms for REALLY good price.  They seem to typically go for $100~$110.  From what I've read, Streamlight is made in China.  For this reason, I tried really hard to shop for SureFire light, but there were couple of reasons why I ended up with Streamlight.  

One is the price.  I needed a light that took AA batteries, and got this one with remote switch for under $100.  Comparable SureFire was $250.  With remote switch sold separately.  Figured SureFire would be more durable with it being so much more expensive + made in America, but reviews I read on various sites indicated both lights are durable, but can still break.  

On top of that, you could use AA or CR123 batteries in Streamlight.  SureFire models are strictly one or the other.  As much as I didn't want Chinese product on my AR, I couldn't get myself to pay 2.5 times more for product that gives so much less.  :(  It also helped that Streamlight, while the lights are made in China, it's still an American company.

Zip ties are actually olive drab color. Looks almost fluorescent in this pic.

Remote switch unit's clipped onto the picatinny rail by rubbery mounting clips included with the kit.

Shot these three today: Glock 19, H&K USP and Sig Sauer P226.  Couple weeks ago, I shot them really well.  Not today.  Hit & miss, at best.

Ammo's so expensive right now, it was nice to find 25 rounds of loose Remington .45ACP in one of the ammo cans.  :D

Now that I have the PSA lower on my main AR-15, Smith & Wesson lower is back where it belongs(M&P Sport II with Magpul furniture).  I used to think this AR looked pretty darn good, but I'm not gonna lie.  Compared to my other AR, it kinda looks fugly.  :p

 

Finally Get To Shoot My New Gun Today.... Not So Fast.

Foggy start this morning...

I got this new gun I've been wanting to shoot for last three weeks.  First weekend, rain.  Second weekend, snowstorm.  Third weekend, finally dry weather!....  My coworker who's been through a lot this winter, his daughter's in town & would like me to cover his shift on Saturday, so strike three.  My boss gave me a makeup day-off, so I chose the very next day forecasted to be dry.  Today(Wednesday).

I'm stoked.  I'm headed out to my plinking spot up in the mountains, first thing.  It was foggy, then maybe some ice on the road?  I still made it okay.  Anticipating some snow left over from the storm last week, I go in from Salmonberry Road.  I never get on from this road, but it's a well known road to shooters, hunters, etc. in the region.

At first, road looks clear.  I'm feeling pretty damn good.  Little snow on the ground as I start climbing.  At this point, I've decided I won't make it to my usual spot.  It's long ways up there, and besides, there's a huge gravel pit nearby where I could shoot the new handgun & even my AR-15. 

Left here takes you down to the big gravel pit.

So I take the turnoff leading to the pit & immediately I notice more snow.  It's downhill & it's not far from the main road, so I keep going.....  I have All Wheel Drive, also winter rated all-terrain tires, but before long, I'm stuck.  I was worried at this point, because I didn't have the room to turnaround, and now it's an uphill trying to crawl back to the main road.  

I'm driving a crossover SUV with almost no off-road capability, but thankfully, I'm a decent driver on snow & ice.  I know I bottomed out couple of times, but I used the tires & momentum to finally get down to the pit....

The Pit(lol):

I'm not gonna lie.  This was scary.  Snow packed inside the wheels shows you how deep the snow got.  I probably gave myself about 20% chance of getting back up to the main road.  On the climb back up, I was either getting stuck, or trying to keep the momentum while car's doing it's best to go sideways & drive off the road.

Super accurate dramatization.

It felt like a small miracle after I made it back up to the main road..... but I still had some shooting to do.  I drive up to the closest pit & there's logging truck getting ready to put the chains on.  I could be waiting there for half an hour, I go to the next one.  Another logging truck parks right in front of the second pit.  There's also a guy trying to get out of said pit.  Not sure what's going on(I think the truck was letting me pass), I decide to just give up & go to the popular shooting range nearby.  I've never been to it, but what the heck.

 

I pull over to look up direction on my phone to this shooting range.  Same logging truck goes right past me. lol  HOWEVER. Where Google tells me to turn to get to the range, there is no road there.  😭  Starting to feel sorry for myself at this point, but I did have a backup plan.  If mountains had too much snow, I was going to drive across town to English Pit.  Shooting range in Vancouver, Washington, which was like an hour away.....

English Pit Shooting Range

There it is.  My new gun & the old.  This post was supposed to be about the new handgun, but yeah, it took the backseat today.  I wanted to see if my accuracy would improve with the new gun, and I did better with it than with the Glock, but I was still hitting all over the target.  

Range officer told me I was shooting at 20 yards.  Their website says 25 yards.  It looked like 15 yards to me?  I don't even know what happened today man.  My "new gun" post will come, but not today.😫

 

Red Dot on a Shotgun + New All-Terrain Tires

Me & couple of friends had planned on going plinking today, but had to cancel due to weather.  There was storm coming in from the coast, and where we go shooting is closer to the coast.... but it was a total dud, at least where I was at.  No storm where I live in Greater Portland Metro, and barely rained closer to the coast.

Yesterday, Oregon Governor Kate Brown announced yet another two week plan to fight Covid 19.  Main point was limited capacity inside stores, restaurant can accommodate deliveries & takeouts only, limits on social gathering, etc., etc.  

While our plinking session was cancelled, I wanted to test out the new all-terrain tires I just bought + I wanted to sight-in the red dot sight I robbed from the Micro Roni Glock stock, so I headed up the mountain by myself again.

It didn't rain much, but got some fog.  Some sign of snow on the ground at the higher elevation.  I didn't realize it got cold enough to snow up here already.  

Tires I bought were the Toyo Open Country All-Terrain.  I've been getting around just fine with the street tires on my 2013 Ford Edge, but couple of people been telling me I should get something tougher for probably couple of years now.  While old tires were still okay, with some meteorologists predicting cold winter for the Pacific Northwest, also having witnessed countless Covid 19 related backorders & backlogs, I decided to just pull the trigger on the tires now(no pun intended).  

Driving under highway speeds, I didn't detect any difference in the ride compared to the set of street tires I had before.  At 60+ mph, I did notice little rougher ride, but not that bad.  Just noticeable.  Pretty sure I got lower miles-per-gallon, but I wasn't watching it the whole time, so I don't have conclusive data on that(nobody cares, sorry).  Anywho, tires are good.  I like these Toyo's.  My first Toyo tires & these "Open Country" all-terrains have 3 Peak Mountain Snowflake logos, which means lot of times, they get a pass when winter tires or traction devices are required.

So this is my Remington 870 Tactical with Burris Fastfire 3 red dot on it(on AR-F3 riser/mount).  This shotgun was my first long gun, not counting POS rimfire rifle called Remington 597 I'd like to forget about.  This Tactical model came with XS sights(rear ghost ring), picatinny rail up top & breacher choke, which really sold it to this tacticool fanboy.  

Rear stock you see on there is Blackhawk Knoxx recoil reducing stock.  It works really well, it makes 12-Gauge feel like a .30 caliber rifle or something, but it had this "cheek slap" problem.  As term suggests, it feels like a slap on your cheek-weld when aiming down stock sights.  As suspected, with the taller red dot, slapping is history.

An old pic of the breacher choke.

Stock picatinny rail makes optics a plug & play.  :D

People before me left some blown up pumpkins close by, so I used them first to get close while sighting-in.  Aiming down the sight for the second shot, I notice the "red dot" in the sight is gone!  :(  It was loose battery cover.  I tightened it down.  I shot it ten more times & it held okay, but man, I was nervous if this little guy was going to hold together with recoil from 12-Gauge shotgun, so it had me worried little bit.  It remains to be seen if the "zero" will hold, or battery cap will stay tight.

I was in for a quickie, and was done within minutes.  Didn't even setup a proper target.  Just laid this flattened cardboard box on the backstop & shot those pumpkin carcasses I found left behind.  Used a birdshot on pumpkins to get close, then once on this cardboard.  Big holes you see are five rounds of slugs.  I used the old UPS label on there to tighten it down.  :p

It started raining after those eleven shots, so I called it a morning(only 7:55am lol).  Stay safe everyone & social distance responsibly, like me!  :D