X-Ring

Back in the best of my competitive shooting days, now in the rapidly fading past, I stood shoulder to shoulder at least twice with a chap who ended up on the US Olympic team. Don’t ask me which year he made it as my memory isn’t that good any more. All I remember is he had a sight wobble. So did I. So does everyone who lines up a pistol on a bullseye target 25 or 50 yards downrange. A sight wobble? The loss of alignment between the front and rear sight resulting in missing the point of aim.

Some wobbles are so bad the bullet misses the paper completely. There are 7-ring wobbles, 8-ring wobbles, 9-ring wobbles and my one time wobble, a 10-ringer. The future Olympian had an X-ring wobble. Every round he sent downrange never missed hitting that black circle! No, I can’t remember his name either and if I could I wouldn’t be overly motivated to enter into a complete historic search of Olympic shooting records to find out how he placed.

All I recall for sure is the .22LR pistol in his hand was built for him by the late Jim Clark, Sr., the only civilian to ever win the National Pistol Championship at Camp Perry (1953). The .45 he used in every NRA match I lost shooting against him was custom built by one of my fellow club members. He was a Master Sergeant who prepared and maintained M1911s for the US Army Marksmanship Team and my first mentor in gunsmithing. That Master Sergeant has now joined Jim Clark.

One of these days, I hope to be there when the two of them get into a good ready-room gabfest about accuracy. Without exaggeration, it was the conviction of all who knew MSG Jack Wallentine that he could accurize anything from a slingshot to a 16-inch Naval Gun. In the future, I may have to seize the opportunity presented by these pages of telling you more of him.

For the present, I’ll merely mention he was one of the few Double Distinguished shooters in the entire United States with a military pistol and rifle during the all too brief time I knew him. Returning now to the future Olympian, I asked how I could tighten my 10-ring wobble to the Xring. After all, my grip was correct, firm but no so tight as to cause trembling. I did not allow my front sight to droop. My breathing technique, fully in, 1/3rd out and hold was perfect. Wrist and arm were firm but not tense.

There was no jerking of the trigger left or right, only a straight pull to the rear. My finger contact with the trigger is limited to the tip pad and light enough to predict the sear release point. "So how come I’m stuck in the 10-ring?" "How’s your heartbeat," he replied. That was the day I learned the very best in the art of marksmanship "control" their heartbeat.

They time their trigger pull to happen when the heart is at rest and will cause no movement of the body. "Even movement as slight as a pulse," said the Olympian, "is enough to disturb the sight picture and the round will miss the intended point of impact." This prompted my next question, "How can you hear your heartbeat when there are guns going off up and down a firing line?" "Plug your ears with cotton before putting on your ear muffs," he responded.

Then he went about proving he wasn’t Even without a range, the Laser Lyte training cartridge offers feedback to dry practice and can be done on any target, such as this bullseye target with center X-ring. blowing smoke up my nose by removing the cotton from his ears, slipping his Olympic-quality muffs back on and handing me a loaded M1911 magazine with instructions to empty it rapid fire downrange at nothing in particular while he let loose with three rounds at a fresh target.

After the dust had settled from my seven shots we scoped his target: Two 10-ring hits, one nipped X. I reloaded the magazine, he replaced the cotton under his muffs and we repeated the exercise resulting in three X-ring hits. From that day forward, cotton balls accompanied me to every match I entered. My scores improved, not to the Olympic level but with notably more Xhits than previously achieved. I continued doubling up my ear protection with my Anschutz

A .380 ACP model is also available. No damage to the laser device or firing pin is assured by the shock absorbing nature of the insert wearing the dimple. 1413 during indoor gallery matches, winning my club’s small-bore championship three years running and a Master classification in NRA High Power Sporting Rifle. Will locking out the rest of the world make anyone a better shot? As long as they can still hear the range commands, yes. That and plenty of good old fashioned practice, practice, practice.

Speaking of practice, though not old fashioned, I’ve come across a little device you might want to add to your inventory of things to use and things for sale. It looks like a 9mm cartridge. It feeds like a 9mm cartridge. Inside the case there is no powder or primer. Instead of a primer there is something resembling an eraser from a lead pencil. There are also batteries and a laser for them to touch off. When the batteries have run down they can be replaced by turning off the eraser/shock absorber end of the case.

The cartridge is made by Laser Lyte. They call it a training cartridge. It’s that for sure but I’ve found another use for it I thought I’d pass along. I may rightfully expect to get a slew of email protesting me saying the 9mm was never intended to be and never has been a bullseye target round. The thinking behind it for military combat was to wound the opposition. This would require two soldiers to remove the wounded one from the battlefield. Wounding them would require four more soldiers, etc.

It’s no deep secret that the terminal effectiveness of the 9mm came in way behind that of the .45 Fresh batteries, three extras are included with the device, are installed as shown. ACP during ballistic gelatin tests conducted by the FBI at Quantico a few years ago. The results there failed to surprise me one bit. It is also no secret that the 9mm is increasingly being replaced by the .40 S&Win law enforcement carry weapons all across the country.

Despite these factors, and others I won’t bother mentioning here, the 9mm is a favored round in the CCW market. I think it comes in second to the .380 ACP. If I’m right, it’s a close second. Prediction: There will come a day when even the sternest and

The pistol sneaking into the photo as a P-Series Ruger. mentally warped People’s Republics remaining among these United States will issue CCW permits to all law abiding citizens desiring one. I’ll modify that by adding law abiding trained citizens, which is where the Laser Lyte training cartridge can play a profitable role for you. Not every CCW holder will have easy access to a range or the time to spend at one and they will not have received much formal instruction with a pistol.

If you don’t think it is any business of a gunsmith to offer some quality marksmanship instruction you’re wrong. You can begin with the seven yards at which most defensive shooting takes place. That’s only 21 feet. It might seem impossible to miss a threat coming on strong from only 21 feet away. Again, wrong. All CCW pistols are not equal. Make certain the barrel on the one you’re selling or servicing is aligned with the point of aim. Remove the grips. Settle the gun between padded vise jaws.

After sighting it on a one-inch circle drawn on an index card five feet away true the pistol level and tighten the jaws. Insert the Laser Lyte cartridge in the chamber. Do not close the slide. Press inward on the black "eraser" with a small, rounded tool. Ared dot will appear on the index card. As long as you maintain the slight pressure the red dot will remain on. If the dot hits to the right or left of the circle you can adjust the rear sight until it’s centered.

If it hits high in the circle, you can file down the front sight in small increments to center it. If it hits low, height will have to be added incrementally. After any and all sight adjustments have been made, let up on the "eraser." The dot will disappear. Control the slide as it is released to its fully forward, in battery position. Cock the hammer. Pull the trigger. When the hammer falls, ared dot will flash on the target. Do it several times.

When all the trigger pulls result in a dot showing inside the circle you can be better than sure the barrel is sitting true to center bore and the sights properly adjusted to take full advantage of it. Prove this to your customer with a quick demo before turning over the pistol. It is now time to step out of character as a wise gunsmith for a few minutes and assume the role of a marksmanship instructor. Show the difference between a dead-on and a 6 o’clock sight picture.

Show the advantage of a straight pull to the rear with only the finger pad contacting the trigger and how it prevents jerking the pistol to either side. Show the advantage of breath control despite the pressure of a personal defense situation. Stress the importance of a firm wrist to avoid malfunctions and devote some time to schooling in a proper two-hand grip. After that, set up your customer with serious mention of the need for practicing frequently with the gun.

If the excuse for not doing so is having no place to practice, sell the training cartridge, give them an index card target and maybe a few cotton balls. Oh, you say the customer didn’t hand you a 9mm? They brought in a .380? No problem. Laser Lyte has come out with a training cartridge in that caliber, too. I reckon there will be more to come. My wish list includes one for the .22 LR. I’m getting shamefully rusty with my Hamdenmade Hi Standard Victor. AG

Webley Tips I enjoyed your article "Working The Webley Mk VI .455 Revolver" by David R. Chicoine in the November 2011 issue. However, I cringe any time I read an article about Webleys where the author talks about cutting the cylinder back to use .45 ACP half moon clips. Why would anyone want to ruin a wonderful gun like the .455 Webley? I followed instructions from a 1977 article in American Rifleman written by Frank Marshall, Jr. to be able to reload and have been shooting my Webley for years.

The simple solution is to take .45 Long Colt cases and cut them with a small tubing cutter to the proper length, which is no longer than 0.785" and no shorter than 0.750". These .45 cases for the have a maximum rim thickness of 0.060" compared to 0.040" for the .455 case. If your gun doesn’t accept the thicker rim of the .45 Long Colt, you can shave a small amount from the revolver’s backplate, carefully trim the case rim, or both. To hold the case for trimming, use the collet from a Foster case trimmer.

The case cannelure is a good place to cut. In his article, Mr. Marshall suggested using Bullseye with a starting load of 3.5 grains. Dies are available from Lee Precision at reasonable prices. I hope this information can keep more Webley revolvers in their original state. Dennis Seitz Seitz Gunsmithing Outstanding tips, Mr. Seitz. Thanks for passing them along. Airgun Scope Mounting The article "Airgun Scope Mounting Revision" by Norman E.

Johnson in your February 2012 issue raised some points I thought might interest our membership. It should be understood that the American standard dovetail measurements are 3/8" at a 45 degree angle. However, in most of the rest of the world these dovetails are 11mm to 14mm at a 60 degree angle and American rimfire rings will not work on those airguns.

Fortunately, most airgun ring manufacturers use a reversible sideplate to accommodate either and the rings are very inexpensive, especially when compared to a reasonable billing for custom gunsmith work. I noticed that group size was from a sandbag rest. The most accepted method of benchresting a spring piston airgun is to rest the off hand palm up on a sandbag and lightly grasp the forend of the rifle in the palm of the hand so that recoil is absorbed totally by the body of the shooter.

This method is called the "artillery hold" by noted airgun writer, Tom Gaylord, and will routinely cut group size in half. It is not my intention to denigrate your work or knowledge of airguns. I only wanted to point out design and hold differences based on my days as a competitive shooter and now vendor and airgunsmith. The fact that you could make what appears to be a Chinese B-3 rifle shoot at all speaks for itself. Steve Cox kyhistoricsalvage.com Author Norman Johnson responds.

I wouldn’t hesitate a minute to perform this work again. It resulted in a satisfied customer at very low cost to him. Gunsmiths shouldn’t merely be parts replacers. What happened to the innovative technician willing and capable of performing custom work and restoration? I think back to my days as a teenager where I actually resurrected an old 22 rifle that needed a hammer, firing pin and stock to make it a functional squirrel gun.

As an eager, inquisitive teenager, I made a rifle scope from an old brass telescope and mounted it with amount that I made up. An old gunsmith once told me, "It ain’t what you got, it’s what you do with what you’ve got that counts." Omro, WI With reference to the sandbag airgun issue, I have researched and used just about every worthwhile rifle rest and designed several of my own. I have experimented extensively with all the worthwhile bag materials and types of sand and bag filler materials.

I am well aware of the accuracy destroying effects of using the wrong support beneath a forend or buttstock with the airgun as well. I commonly shoot quarter minute of angle groups using dozens of different rifles and types of rests that virtually eliminate all human error in the process. I am ever interested in reading comments by wide awake shooters and readers like Stephen Cox as we all benefit by them. Remington Model 7400 I’m working on Remington 7400 chambered in .270 Winchester with a jam problem.

A cartridge can be chambered along with four in the magazine and it will shoot the first and second rounds but the third one never gets into the chamber. The bolt close but just snaps. I’ve tried two different magazines and have cleaned the rifle. I know some people call these "jam-o-matics" but do you have a hint to solve this problem? R. J. Are you reloading or using factory ammo? The old "jammo" is a gas operated beastie and reloads, or even some factory stuff purchased purely on price, can give it fits.

Too light and the bolt won’t work to cycle the action. Too hot and the bolt moves back and forth too quickly in the receiver to do its jobs. It’s called short cycling. Assuming you’re using at least decent factory rounds here are some things to check out. Is the magazine riding too low in the receiver or so loose it is working its way down as the first couple of shots are let go? This results in the bolt overriding the next round due up.

Are the magazine lips bent too far outward at the front or too far downward at the rear? These can