Hi-Point 4095

I have traded in my Leader Dynamics EBW for a Hi Point 4095 carbine. Hi point is a bit slow updating their website, so the above is a 9mm version. Imagine the barrel being just a tiny bit bigger, otherwise, same gun.

Due to the ammo shortage, and an unexpected honey-do bomb, I haven't been to the range yet. Maybe this weekend. Meantime, I've found a couple of things. First, let me remind you of the story about the IT guy who joined the Army:

He goes to the rifle range, and puts a magazine full down range, only to be told that there were no holes in the target. He puts his finger over the end of the barrel and pulls the trigger, shooting off a bit of finger. He then calls back to the downrange spotter:
"It's coming out this end O.K. The problem must be on your end."

The Hi Point comes with a yellow stickie on the stock that reads:

"CAUTION This is a short barreled rifle.
DO NOT extend your FINGERS past the MUZZLE of the weapon."

The marksmanship instructor must have retired and taken a job with Hi Point.

I'm not a fan of the broom handle, but that's the only model that was available. OTOH, it folds back into a credible variant on Magpul's AFG, so maybe I'll get to like it after all.

The gun comes with an allen wrench which fits every screw on the gun except the fine sight adjustments and the broom handle. The broom handle takes the next size smaller. The handle has a clever secret compartment, in which is a wrench / screwdriver tool that allows pretty much complete dis-assembly of the gun. I was advised that brushing the bore after every 2-300 rounds would suffice, and more extensive cleaning could wait for the 2-3000 round mark.

All Hi Point carbines will be shipped with the "sport" stock, shown in the picture above, complete with a spring-loaded pad. The 9mm version reportedly has little recoil to absorb, but the .40 is reported to be noticeably "sportier".

One last thing: The box this gun came in had check boxes to designate the model inside. Choices being 4095, and 4595. Yes, that's right, according to highly reliable third-hand information, the .45 ACP H-P is actually in production, awaiting delivery of stocks, and will be on the market in August. If you already shoot a .45 pistol, you may commence drooling. This model has been "6 months out" since 2004, so I'm not holding my breath. Of course if Hi Point wants to send me a pre-production model for evaluation, I'll be happy to endorse their projected delivery date.

The club has an IDPA-style match this Saturday, so I'll be at the range, barring the predicted cloudy, rainy, and cold frightening people off. Range report this weekend. Several of the members shoot .40 SS&W so I should be able to get Chroney data over a range.

Range Day - IDPA & Hi Point 4095

I trust everyone had a good time at the range yesterday. I did.

Club IDPA match highlighted (for me anyway) by the stage starting off with 2 targets at arms length to be dealt with from retention, followed by one further off to be shot while retreating, followed by more targets in other places.

The first two targets don't require careful aiming or anything, at  2 feet you'll seldom miss so one shot left, two right, one more left and move on, all in just a few seconds. The fun part was coming back to score the string and discovering I had 5 holes in the right target and about eight in the left, which the SO would not let me credit against misses on any of the others.

This of course is caused by muzzle blast blowing the tape off the targets, but it's impressive to look at.

After talking to People Who Should Know, It was suggested that the Hi Point 4095 should indeed be shooting better than I'm seeing and it was suggested that the barrel needed to be fully bedded top and bottom. The barrel mounted rail is nice, but the barrel is prone to a lot of vibration I guess. The barrel mounts for the rail preclude using the original upper forearm, so I made one.

The forward notch was a mistake. This is my first one and solid walnut too. AFAIK, this is the only real wood piece of furniture for a Hi Point carbine in the world. You saw it here first! The part slides on and engages four tabs on the lower forearm.  As there is no other attachment, I added a collar to the barrel to keep it from sliding forward. This of itself also acts as a damper. If the rail mounts seem a bit tall, it's because they align the rail with the original back on the bolt shroud. If the rail seems a bit long, it's because it was a direct replacement for the original plastic rail. The scope is a 4X pistol scope I borrowed from a friend to get the eye relief that mounting it so far forward required. Overall a bit kludgey, but:

1.86 MOA at 50 yards was my best group. Whenever I tried to adjust the scope, the groups exploded in size and settled back very slowly which sounds like a sticky scope. I didn't bring enough ammo to fully center the groups. Still this is way better than the 6 MOA I started with.

Moving forward, possibilities include trimming the stock just forward of the bolt shroud and adding an aluminum sleeve to the full length of the barrel similar to something Tactical Solutions might do.

Build the rail into the sleeve or at least a hard point for the existing rail, and voila! eye-catching tactical tomfoolery on your now sub 2MOA Hi Point. In the meantime, users on a budget might try simply adding the collar. Mine is McMaster Carr P/N

3374K11

Machinable-Bore Clamp-on Shaft Collar, for 1/8" to 3/4" Diameter, Two-Piece - $11.88

Clamp a business card between the halves and bore it to .659". Can't hurt.

Hi-Point 4095 Range Report 2

One more trip to the range, this time with some reloads. Using Berrys Bullets plated bullets, 155gr round nose flat point, over 5.4 gr of Hodgdon Titegroup. This combo is a low level load and is advertised to deliver 1058 fps through some mythical gun that Hodgdon uses to test such things.

This load delivered an average of 1350 fps through my chroney. Nice. Paula the neophyte tried the gun and found to her amazement and approval she was shooting 1 in groups at 25 yards. I didn't try for groups.

A friend brought his kid, a watermelon, and a couple of flats of eggs out to play with. His .45 auto punched neat holes in the melon, eventually causing it to split on the bottom. I loaned him the Hi-Point and it made the melon explode in properly photogenic fashion. Pink debris, 20 foot radius.You'll have to trust me on this, as no one had a camera.

Paula the neo tried the Hi Point on the eggs. She nailed 2 eggs in 3 shots at 25 yards. Believe me what happened to the eggs is good basic material for a special effect on Star Trek when the Klingon ship hits the antimatter space mine. If you try this on your range, put the eggs far apart. The blast radius is about 24-30 inches.

I don't have a vast supply of powder to experiment with, but Hodgdon lists a load involving HS-6 powder using about 40% more powder, that delivers close to the same performance as the Titegroup loads I was using. At a guess, I would say the performance increase in the carbine would be even greater. If someone gives me a few tablespoons full, I'll try it. Barrys does not recommend very high velocities for their plated bullets, but the relatively gentle accelerations in the longer barrel may get around this. Further experimentation is indicated. Oh yes.

Did I mention this little shooter is fun?

In Search Of Accuracy 2

So I got out to the range with the Hi-Point, and went through the barrel lapping procedure. Using Dave Tubbs bullets, I set out some 9 targets made from paper plates with a cross drawn on them with one of those markers the taggers find so handy. The procedure here is to work your way through 50 bullets in 5 sets of 10, each set being a finer abrasive than the one before it. Thorough cleaning is recommended between each group of 10, as well as a very slow rate of fire to avoid heating the barrel.

First off, I shot a baseline target using my own 155gr hand loads. Let me suggest that everything I said about the sight rail on the Hi Point carbine seems to be borne out as I could only get two of five shots onto the first plate at 50 yards. The gun needs a 4X scope that will mount all the way back on the rail where there's some actual support. It shoots way better than this with the iron sights it came with.

Next item is to note that the gun really likes the 180 grain bullets I got from Tubbs. Moving from one target to the next as I went from one set of bullets to the next produced reliable groups of about 2 inches. I forgot my chrony, of course, so I have no velocity data for the 180s but I seem to remember shooting some Wally World 180s and getting 1150-1200 fps. Recoil is noticeably less with the heavier bullets.

Tubbs says that you will notice the improvements as you go in the form of a shinier barrel bore, and easier passage of the bore brush down the barrel. He's absolutely right.

Following the regimen with the lapping, I tried once more with my hand loads. Once bitten, twice shy, I did this at 25 yards. Harsher recoil and all, the first 3 shots grouped under 1 inch. #4 flew wide, and the remaining six grouped about 3 inches below the first four. Did I mention that the sight rail on the Hi Point is structurally very similar to the diving board at the public swimming pool?

I did get some chrony info using another members chrony afterward. My bullets now run some 15 fps faster than before the lapping at about 1365 fps.

Further testing is indicated using a sight that doesn't rely so much on the relatively unsupported front end of the rail. One of those very short 4X "tactical" (black) jobs intended for a shotgun or an AR would seem to be called for. Maybe the Barska red dot, which by now has seen service on half the guns I've got.

Hi-Point 4095 Range Report

This didn't work out quite like I planned. The original idea was to take the gun to the club IDPA shoot Saturday, and let anyone with .40 S&W ammo run a few rounds through it while I kept track of the chrony, and listened to comments. Unfortunately the match got rained out.

Today, I pretty much had the range to myself (nice), but not so much ammo testing and commentary.

Anyway... The gun worked quite well, right out of the box was hitting about 1" high, and 1/2" left at 25 yards. 2 clicks down and one click right (the adjuster didn't seem to actually click, so I imagined 8 clicks/turn) and my best group was 3/4".


I tried it at 100 yards, which was very optimistic of me, given my rather dubious eyesight. Note to self; If you think you're going to shoot very well at 100 yards with this, get some glass. Either that or a very long white cane. Still, I believe the 3" groups are quite do-able, and I had no trouble hitting a 3" x 5" gas cylinder cap, first try at that distance. Coyotes at 150 yds? I don't see why not. Should be easy. A 4X scout scope is an option. I wish I had had one.

Ammo was Federal JFP from Wally World, and worked flawlessly. It featured 180 gr bullets, and was advertised as delivering 985 fps, presumably from a full-sized conventional pistol. From the Hi Point, I was getting 1100-1120 fps. Other ammo for comparison was some 150 gr reloads which were delivering 910 - 960 fps from a compact pistol, and were hitting 1100-1150 from the carbine.

Three other people tried the gun, and described it as comfortable, easy to shoot, and having a "sporty" recoil. This assessment is because the basis for comparison is a .40 cal pistol with muzzle velocities in the mid 900s. Recoil is certainly there, but is easily manageable, slightly less than a .223. For the frail types, there's a muzzle brake / flash hider available.

The basic gun runs $305, at least where I got mine, and magazines run $18-20. Hi Point pistol mags fit the carbine, and are available in 8 or 10 round capacities, depending on your location.

Cheap entertainment? You betcha.

Edited to add the pic. I had a nice pic from the range, but the computer ate it. Honest

Addendum: I have several more posts about the 4095 on this blog. Enter 4095 into the search block at the top left corner of the page.

Gun Fun

It appears my suggested e-postal match has had a very favorable reception to judge from the traffic. My shooting buddy assures me that the black SUV with the tinted windows will be parked outside my house bright and early Monday morning. The sun is turning black as I write, can the helicopters be far behind?

Went out and shot the Milles Bourne e-postal match with 4 different firearms. I discover that my bowling pin gun is shooting a bit to the right, which has been corrected. I also find I need more practice at bullseye shooting. Also that I get better results with the Hi Point 4095 using the Barrys hollow base bullets, which are a bit longer than the ones I normally use. I like Barrys bullets. You can get plated bullets in flat point, hollow point, and hollow base all at about the same price.

Articles I've been reading (Og the Neanderpundit) have given me some ideas regarding the inherent accuracy of the Hi Point, and how to get the most out of it. The bad news is that this is going to involve fabricating some parts, so don't hold your breath on this one.

Update: If the drone you bag is armed, I'll double your score. According to the article at the link, this will be easier and easier.

In Search Of Accuracy

In a firearm, specifically. This is an interinting topic to search, as many people have opinions on it, but few have any hard data.

I have a varmint rifle that will shoot <1MOA all day long, and I guess I've gotten spoiled by it. I also have a Hi-Point carbine that shoots about 3 MOA. For this gun, that's probably not unreasonable, but why be reasonable if it presents a chance to tinker.

I found a thread in the Hi Point discussion group that mentioned that the barrels of H-Ps were not crowned. The moderator pointed that crowning cost money, and H-Ps were built to a price point, not an accuracy standard. This seems reasonable, as the easiest way to get a sum-MOA gun is to put about $3000 on the table, and wait for it to get built. Still, I know that some massaging will improve accuracy, and it doesn't have to be prohibitively expensive, so I looked into crowning.

For you non-gunnies, the crown is the recess cut into the business end of the barrel of the gun. The form varies, depending on how fancy you want to make it. Most guns use a double radius, so the end looks like a donut, radiused into the hole, and out to the outside diameter. This is easy to cut, and not expensive. There was a discussion at Snipers Hide on the relative merits of crowning that was reminiscent of .45 vs 9mm arguments. There was one post there that cited some actual data, suggesting that the difference between a nice square crown, and a 30 degree hacksawed barrel was mostly to move the shot group, although it was noted that if you cut off your barrel with a chainsaw, you can expect your groups to increase from 1 MOA to 1.5 MOA. One could conclude that the primary function of the crown is to prevent damage to the inside of the barrel while the gun is banging around behind the seat of your pickup truck.

Bill Johnson has a more exhaustive piece on accuratizing that has the advantage of having reasonable extensive documentation, and the inclusion of a control rifle. His test rifle started out at 4.5MOA which is worse than mine, so I felt this was a relevant study.

Polishing the barrel using Dave Tubb bullets with abrasive embedded into the jackets took him down to 2.67 MOA which is an impressive drop for an easy job, plus the price is reasonable, and you get to go shooting in the process. Shooting abrasive bullets down your barrel sounds scary to me, but this seems to work.

A trigger job made more difference than I would have expected, but hey, whatever works. I suspect that most trigger jobs involve simply polishing the parts to get rid of the scratchyness and reduce the friction. To that end in might be fun to see what throwing a disassembled trigger group into a tumbler with metal polishing media would accomplish.

Bedding the action helped, but only on the looser of the two rifles. Once you get to a certain point, the return on your investment falls off rapidly. It helped for Mr. Johnson, whose 4.4 MOA gun now shoots <1MOA. I'm not sure what bedding the action might entail on a gun that the furniture comes in a left half and a right half held together by screws that pinch the halves together over the metallic innards, but I guess I could have a look while I'm looking into the trigger group.

Keeps me occupied during the winter, I guess.

Daily Grind

 So it's 18 degrees out with 2" of snow on the ground and my trusty snow blower has decided it doesn't want to start. I'm supposed to go get a Covid test today so the doctors can laser my colon Friday so I need to get out. OK no big deal. Just would have been nicer with the blower working.

I got a High Tower Armory bullpup stock for the Hi Point back in January and installed it. From reading the reviews, I seem to be the only person in the country having troubles with it so there's that. Andy Wentzel at HTA has been very helpful to me on this.  I made some minor tweaks to it this month which seem to have fixed the problems, and took it to a club IDPA match. 

Everything worked fine. The only problems were from me needing to adjust to the new balance and functions. Safety and mag release are in new places, the mag release needs to be padded to protect my amputated finger or I need to learn to use a different finger. Either way the process is smoother. Having learned to point shoot the stock Hi Point I now find that the same muscle memory puts the point of impact significantly higher with the bullpup. Need to work on that.

Gun shoots fine, left hand or right, but the red dot is a bit lower on the bullpup so getting on target takes a bit longer. 

Daughter got married Saturday and now I'm a step-grandpa in a vastly expanded family.

Next Year

I have at this point no idea whatsoever how long I'll be working next year so I'll play it by ear and keep coming in as long as my badge works.

I had really good luck a few years ago using Tubb lapping bullets in my Hi Point which got me another 100 fps at the muzzle and presumably somewhat better accuracy. Accuracy in the Hi Point carbine seems to be mostly a function of how tightly the assembly pins fit, but that's being addressed with some custom pins. The lapping bullets are out of stock but I found a kit at Midway which according to the reviews on it is easy to use, effective, and even with only 1 oz of each compound, has enough in it to lap about 100 guns. The tracking info says it arrived in Denver yesterday and will make it from the Denver P.O. to far-off Littleton (10 miles) in about a week. Go figure.

Some years ago a small (4-ft) alligator escaped from the Denver zoo one spring and got into the park lake where he seemed to enjoy the much larger swimming hole. The natives notices this and began panicking over the thought of "Albert" as he was named eating pets and small children. The folks at the zoo were less worried and knowing that the gator was much faster than anyone in a rowboat, left him there where he entertained all and sundry with the occasional sudden disappearance of a duck. Come fall the now rather logy Albert was easily picked up and tossed back in jail by the zoo people. It was a fairly entertaining summer. I'm currently working on the head and body, the part you would normally see, of an 8-footer complete with motors and radio control. A water-borne drone if you will. More on that when the local water returns to a liquid state.

Other projects as well, but more on them as they develop which means as the garage becomes habitable for periods exceeding 1-2 minutes.

Prediction: Next year will be average in the old Soviet sense: Worse than last year, better than next year: Average.

4095 Range Report

In addition to a long fun day at the range I got to test some new (to me) bullets and powder in the Hi Point. Switching from Barrys plated to some RNFP jacketed bullets in 155gr weight was an eye-opener. Now in all fairness, Barrys does not recommend using their plated bullets at muzzle velocities greater than about 1200 fps as the plating is prone to come off. This means that they work fine for nearly all pistol applications in eliminating lead fouling.

When the plating starts coming off, however, accuracy goes the way of the wild goose, and muzzle velocity becomes much more widely variable. In the Hi Point, the longer barrel boosts muzzle velocity 250-300 fps over what you would expect from a pistol of the same caliber putting the speed well above Barry's recommendation.

FWIW: Using Titegroup, my favorite one-size-fits-all powder, the 155 gr jacketed bullets delivered an average of 1418 +/- 23 fps and group size of 3MOA shooting off sandbags.This is about 60 fps faster than the plated bullets, and 3 MOA closer groups. This accuracy references loading Barrys bullets at sub-minimum loads resulting in MV's around 1250-1300 fps. If you load upward, the "groups" quickly expand to the point where they were measured in feet at 100 yards. It's not the gun, it's the bullets. Use jacketed above 1200 fps.

Switching to Power Pistol confirms the thought that slower powder would work better in a longer barrel with MV up to 1579+/-27 fps and about the same accuracy.

Gun Fun! - Hi Points

Now here's a fable of what you might do with a Hi Point pistol assuming you had too much money and far too much time on your hands. Tongue firmly in cheek, here's the unobtanium coated optically enhanced Hi Point .45:

I want to know where they found that deep-sea divers helmet they mounted on the slide. Looks like someones aquarium is missing a small statue.

In spite of this it still works.

 Found at Bearing Arms.

Ammo Testing - Winchester Train and Defense

The fine folks at Wideners Reloading and Shooting Supply  sent me some ammo to test, compare, and contrast and I now have something to report. I got Winchester Train and Defend, .40 cal. FMJ 180 grain Training ammo, and .40 cal JHP 180 grain Defense version. Both claim reduced recoil.

I tested each one with the Chrony in both my Gen 3 Glock 22, and my Hi Point Carbine on the premise that if the powder was of the slower type, I'd see a big jump in muzzle velocity. As to the recoil I can say that they both had lower recoil than either the Blazer or Tul ammo I had on hand with similar bullet weights but more than the hand loads I normally use in competition. In all fairness, my hand loads are powder puff loads with 165 gr bullets and minimum powder so comparing anything to them would be unfair. Still, the Winchester stuff wasn't all that much worse, so yes, reduced recoil.

The training ammo delivered an average of 956 fps through the Glock with no problems at all. Through the 16” barrel of the Hi Point it went up to 1062. I normally get 250 fps increase from the carbine and this modest increase suggests to me that the powder being used here is quite fast and doesn't take full advantage of the longer carbine barrel.

The Defensive stuff came in at 922 fps through the Glock and 1024 fps in the carbine. Again the powder seems to be quite fast to not take advantage of the longer carbine barrel. No problems were encountered of any kind during this testing.

Of note was the spent brass with the Defense brass looking about like you would expect but the Training brass looking like it just came off the stamping die. No fooling, this stuff is so clean you could probably reload it right off the ground. I wouldn't, but it was amazingly clean. Whatever they're using for powder, I hope it hits the reloading market soon. The use of 2 slightly different powders would explain the speed differences.

Gun Stuff - Hi Point

Beemiller is pleased to announce that they are now the nations #12 firearms manufacturer.

Click to enlarge or if that doesn't work, follow the link and click to enlarge. They are right behind Kel-Tec, and don't make shotguns. Perhaps they could take advantage of the anti-gun political maneuvering to keep Saiga shotguns out of the country by picking up a license to make the magazine-fed guns here.

Speaking of Hi-Point, I've got a new sight mount installed on my 4095 carbine which is delivering one-ragged-hole groups at 25 yards. Yes, I know, with a bullet that big, you can get one ragged hole with a wrist rocket at that distance. Sure you can. Out of the box the gun shoots about 6 MOA. I'm looking at half that, maybe less. What this means is that if you're shooting prairie dogs at 200 yards, the little varmints have about a 50% chance.

Testing is in progress. Film, as they used to say, at 11.

Rifle Match

The club tried out something new last weekend, a rifle match held under USPSA rules*. 5 stages involving moving and shooting, mostly standing and unsupported. Ranges ran from 3 yd out to 200. A close stage ran 3 to 50 yards with varying amounts of moving involved. Stage 4 ran from 10 yards out to 7 12" gongs at 100 yards. Stage 4 was a snipers stage, with 2 cardboard targets visible from each of 4 positions, and 2 more visible from position 3, 10-25 yards out. At each stage after shooting the cardboard, you had to finish out by shooting each of 3 14" gongs at the 200 yard mark. Given time and a bipod I could have done this, but with a timer running, a total time limit for the stage, limited gun support and exhaustion, I only got 3 hits out of 15 possible.

Only 1 or 2 people on my squad actually got those gongs as from position 2 for example they were behind the weeds. Very challenging. Generally conceded to be perhaps a bit too challenging.

This was a test match to see what worked and what didn't. In general, target positions from 30 to 100 yards worked. Stages that involved lots of movement also worked. Stages that involved movement strategy were popular as well.

Most people were using a 4x scout scope. Took us a stage or two to remember that at distances under 20 yards, if you want to get the A-zone head hits you have to put the horizontal line right at the top edge of the head. Two of us were using PCCs which means we have to keep in mind the arc trajectory. 3 in over at 50-75, 12-14" under at 200. The Hi Point ran flawlessly though the scope mount proved to have loosened up on stage 4. The Glock carbine conversion shot well but had feeding problems later traced to dirt in the mags. Neither of us felt that our guns put us at any great disadvantage. Well, O.K. the Hi Point could have used bigger mags and a bolt release button.

Fun stuff.

*USPSA: Rules? we doan' need no steenkin' rules. Rules is for IDPA.

Happy New Year 2

Over and above the young lady in the previous pose, It seems that 2019 was pretty damn good. The U.S. economy has moved from being 20% of the whole worlds economy to being 25%. My 401k, if it could vote, would support making Trump President For Life.

I wouldn't, although as of right now and subject to change, I'd support Ted Cruz in 2024. I was wondering why, if the market was taking off like a Nork rocket, was GDP growth down at 2.1%, but I'm told the whole world has been taking a bit of a beating last year and the US is the only G7 country to show better than 2% so we're still #1.

Guns: My Hi Point finally had a failure that all have agreed is non-repairable so it looks like I'm getting a new one in about 3 weeks. Go Team Hi-Point! For you folks in Virginia, mass demonstrations are a tool of the left. The only mass demo that matters is the one at the ballot box and it looks like the left has imported enough refugees to swing the last 2 seats they needed to take the trifecta. The newly empowered El Puerco Grande, as we call him, is taking the opportunity to attempt to disarm his citizens just like several other South American dictators. This is causing some firebrands to use words like bugaloo. Stay away from that. Those sorts of things are messy and usually more drawn out than anyone expects. I recommend targeted assassinations. Saves on ammo and causes less collateral damage.

Advice:
To the College of Cardinals (hey, go big or go home, right?) Next time elect someone who is arguably Catholic. You want an economist? Hire one from the University of Chicago who knows what he's talking about.

To Greta the Grinch: Great timing, leaving the U.S. to vacation in a Mediterranean country. You could be here helping me move 3-1/2" of Global Warming from my drive and walk. Probably wouldn't pay as well though.

To the Ayatollah Hominy: Give it up. Admit you've been wrong all those years, and convert to Zoroastrianism like your forebears.

To Fat Kim: Let the Donald build a nice hotel on the coast and maybe he'll get you a Pelloton for your birthday.

Gun Fun - Hi Point 4095

I got my carbine back from the factory today, about 2 weeks sooner than I had expected and Hi Point deserves their reputation as the best customer service group out there.

They didn't send me back a whole new gun but it was a near thing from the look of it. Anything that was worn was replaced. Anything that has been upgraded in the last 2-1/2 years was replaced. Anything that needed polishing got polished. Five stars out of five and a +.

Time for a range trip. Wish it was warmer. I hate winter.

July E-Postal Results

As of today I have 11 entries. Consensus of opinion is that we all need to practice the strong hand/weak hand bit, and that adding a scope just gives you a clearer view of how much we're wobbling.

I ran out of opportunities to shoot this with my Hi Point or my AR but I might be able to work that in this weekend. Yes, I'm keeping this open until the 7th so if you get a chance to try it again, feel free to do so. Here's what we have right now:

Class 1	Rimfire, Iron/red dot
Dave (T.B.Sam)	Ruger 22/45	16
Billll	Ruger Mk 1	14
Merle	Ruger Mk 2	13
Class 2	Rimfire, scoped
Dave (T.B.Sam)	Ruger Mk 3	12
Class 3	Rimfire rifle, iron
Merle	Iver Johnson	7
Class 4	Rimfire rifle, scoped
Billll	Marlin 795	16
Merle	Ruger 10/22	11
Class 5	C.F pistol, iron
Billll	Glock 22	10
Merle	CZ-82	9
Class 7	C.F. Rifle, scoped
Merle	Hi Point 4095	8
Merle	Ruger Mini-14	7

GBRX

Tried driving this year. Worked OK going out, not so well on the return. The North West seems to be on fire again with the smoke starting at Cheyenne and only getting worse as you went West. Salt Lake City looked like Peking. Reno not so hot either.

There are 2 mountain ranges in the background. Trust me.
Out to the range to play with toys

Back to the hotel for technical talk on the Gardner and mike's Hi Standards

Off to the Reno Guns and Range (RGR) for an informal steel challenge match

If you're ever in Reno, make it a point to visit RGR. Big, well lit, well ventilated range, second range being installed, shoot room for simunition training being installed, classroom, and projection room. The showroom is large and not yet fully populated. The gunsmith has a nice machine shop in the back. Reasonable rates at the range as well.
Tried my own ghost ring sights and yes, they work as advertised.
Tried the Hi Point 4095 at the outdoor range and was hitting the gong at 200 yards.
Celebrities:

And a big thanks to our sponsors. There was lots of stuff for the drawings but by the time I got the camera unlimbered:

Back packs and range bags, a scope, a red dot, specialty gloves, etc, etc.
Next year I'm going to see if we can't work in talks from some of us on the current state of gun laws in our individual states.

Busy Day

Shortly after getting back from GBR and while still in a weakened dtate, a friend of mine sent me a note about a "daily deal" from Palmetto State Armory on a Bag-O-AR-Parts, just add lower receiver. Since I had won a lower at GBRIX , and it had been looking lonely, I bit. After all it was a $570 bag on sale for $400. It took me about 2 hours to assemble the parts which involved watching a bit of a how-to video then going downstairs to install the 2 or 3 parts, then back up to the 'puter for the next 2 minutes. Here's the result:

A big help here was that the upper receiver came pre-assembled. The Mag-Pul furniture is not actually gray, but a uniform black. I topped it with a 4X scout scope I had lying about in need of a home although that may well become a red dot at some point. I don't know.

Same day I finished this I got a call from the Arapahoe County Sheriff to come pick up my card. Elapsed time: 61 days. Could have been better, could have been worse. I'm not complaining, just observing.

With the above 2, the gun snobs can now quit sneering at my Hi Point and come read my blog. Now with fewer cooties.

The topper was getting back from the Sheriff's office and finding a jury summons in the mail. Man, those guys don't waste any time at all now do they.

A Day At The Range

I was expecting temps to start out in the 20's and eventually creep into the low 40's, but instead got numbers some 15 degrees higher.

Now about the wind. Blowing dust, blinding dust, gritty teeth, wondering if an ultrasonic dip tank might be the ticket for gun cleaning. At one point, one of those "I wanna be a tornado when I grow up" dust devils came over the backstop, and passed directly over the explanation of the upcoming stage. One of the targets was ripped from the stand and came to earth some 400 yards away.

Other than that, a good time was had by all.

Switched the Hi Point back to the Iron sights. With dust and grit in my eyes, groups that were taller than they were wide are now wider than they are tall. The barrel burnishing doesn't seem to have accomplished much. Next up: A trigger job.