My "Daily Read"

I've had a number of friends ask me for a list of websites I read through on a daily basis.  So I thought I'd list them in a post and put a short commentary on each . . . 

The Gateway Pundit . . . This is probably the most "vocal" website  I visit.  That said, they seem to do a good job of ferreting out interesting stories and they always post the link to the original story.

Instapundit . . . Glenn is a professor in the University of Tennessee law school.  It is an aggregate site with reasoned comment on stories (and other permitted posters) find interesting.

Power Line Blog . . . Run by three attorneys they all offer solid conservative commentary on news stories of the day.

Latest Articles . . . Links to current stories as they happen typically by conservative members of the blog.

Real Clear Politics . . . the absolute best aggregate news websites on a host of topic headings.  I begin with politics but there are a number of additional offerings in the heading to the website.

Newsmax . . . A solid source of news articles from a conservative POV

The Federalists . . . They post articles covering a broad range of topics.

Citizen Free Press . . . a replacement for the Drudge Report

Townhall . . . a source of the conservative POV

National Review . . . a source of the conservative POV

The Bongino Report . . . a source of the conservative POV

American Thinker . . . a source of the conservative POV

So this represents the start of my mornings when I go out and look to see what's happening in the world.  Obviously all lean conservative but they do not hesitate to link original liberal content as well.

Updated 11/6/2020

Let me know what you think.

Range Trip - 7-17-2020 The range always teaches something

I spent the first three days of this week helping with a “Rifle Operator Course” for our local PD.  24 hours, 800+ rounds – it’s very comprehensive and provides a solid evaluation of an officer that is about to begin carrying an AR as part of their squad duty gear.  Of course, while you are helping teach . . . there’s no opportunity to send rounds downrange yourself.  And while I am confident in my skillset, it never hurts to follow up that confidence with a few rounds myself just for “holes on target proof” as well as a bit of polish.  So that was my task for this morning – evaluation and polish.

I set aside 100 rounds of .223 and 50 rounds of 9mm to work on both rifle skills and a transition to my carry gun.  As I’ve said many times, set the “ground rules” first, then shoot your COF.  For a hit to count it needed to be within or touch the line-defined specific shapes – high center mass box, pelvic girdle box, ocular cavity and then the 6 numbered cognition drill boxes around the outside of the silhouette. 

The course of fire for the morning was . . .

    10 single rounds high center mass box                                                   10 rounds

    10 single rounds ocular cavity                                                                 10 rounds

    10 “hammers” (think a fast accelerated pair)                                           10 rounds

    1 single round in each outer shape 1 thru 6                                             6 rounds

     5 failure drills – 2 rounds HCM, 1 round in the ocular cavity                   15 rounds

    15 single round engagements HCM simulating rifle failure                      15 rounds

    45 9mm rounds shot as a failure drill with 5 rounds to the ocular cavity

         5 rounds to “2” circle and 5 rounds split between the 3 and 4 box      45 rounds

     7 “hammers” to the pelvic girdle                                                              14 Rounds

     1  “Bill Drill” from 10 yards                                                                        5 rounds

The final round count for this portion is 80 rounds of .223 and 50 rounds of 9mm all shot from the 10-yard line.   For the transition drill I fired a single round to the high center mass with my AR and then transitioned to my sidearm – a Glock 17 – and shot a failure drill.  This was done 15 times for a total of 45 rounds of 9mm.  This left me with 5 rounds of 9mm in my pocket which I loaded as shot as the “Bill Drill” listed above.

The remaining 20 rounds were shot from a supported prone position from 50 yards and shot on the separate target in the upper left corner of the primary target.  Each square is 4-inches in size with 1-inch square in their center.

As the title of this post says, the range will always teach you something.  Today that lesson was . . . aren’t you glad you had backup irons??  My “duty rifle” has an older Eotech 517 mounted to it.  It had come up just fine for the coursework earlier in the week but today, even with the backup set of batteries I had in the range bag, it was “no joy”, it was not going to come up.  What an opportunity to work with my back up irons just to make sure that skillset is alive in well!!!  Yeah!!!

So that’s what I did.  I shot the above course of fire with irons.  The first 80 rounds of .223 and 45 rounds of 9mm from my carry Glock 17 produced a score of 86%.  Not the 90% I was looking for but well above  80% which is my minimum acceptable score.  And as opposed to the scoring on LEO range work, the rounds needed to touch or be within the boundaries of the scoring areas on the target and not just within the silhouette of the target for it to count for me.  Honestly, I look at this overall result  as doing fine on this run.  I can always improve but each range trip brings its own little issues.

However, looking at the final 20 rounds on the target in the upper left, I kinda lost my crap on that one.  My shooting position was 50 yards in a supported prone position – my range bag provided my support.  As you can see, the “precision” was fine with the groups being under 3 inches in size and they are separate and distinct groups.  Where I lost it was in the accuracy with my group centers being well left or above of the desired targets.  Heavy sigh.  So, when I replace my Eotech 517 this coming week, I’ll tweak the 50 yard zero on my irons a bit to bring that back in. 

All in all, a good range trip, some good work on transition from my AR to my Glock 17 and an obvious workout of my iron sights. 

A fine time was had by all!!  So – get out to the range.  Have you worked on transitions from your rifle to your handgun??  Have you wrung out your irons lately??  Have you attempted more precise shots at longer distances but especially within the 50-yard range that would be typical for home defense?  If not, schedule some time and some ammo to brush off the rust and work on the polish.  Remember, you simply do not get to choose “the day”!!!  It chooses you!!

Review - FDP Course 6-11-12-2020 AAR

Honestly, it is seldom that I get a class full of “new AND inexperienced” shooters.  Yet, that is what I had this week.  Three couples with little or no experience with handguns at all.  The class just kind of sprung up within a couple days.  Our current civil unrest played no small part in this with the 24/7 news cycle showing burning towns, armed folks taking over swaths of cities, police under attack . . . more than enough to cause fear, discomfort and a certain amount of wonder about . . . “what would I do if the police could not respond quickly enough should I need them?”  And that was the crux of the concern for the three couples sitting before me in the classroom . . . how do I defend myself if the police are unable to.


The foundational course I teach for new defensive shooters – regardless of the level of their experience – is the NAPSI Foundations of Defensive Pistol.  It runs 9+ hours and with 6 students we ran two squad of shooters on the range essentially doubling the range time.  Total course time this run-through?  Right at 10.5 hours.  It was spread over 2 days making it just a bit easier on the new folks.


What makes the NAPSI FDP coursework different from others that I teach is that it is “defense-centric” . . . it’s purpose is to give you foundational information that will help you become a better defensive shooter, and for new shooters – give you a fairly broad introduction to the topic.


We start with the different types of handguns and do a through review of the nomenclature – SA Revolvers, DA Revolvers, SA Semiautomatic Pistols, SA/DA Semiautomatic Pistols and finally striker fired semiautomatic pistols.  We cover the different sizes and their uses.


Holsters, belts, clothing – life changes are also covered.  Carrying a defensive handgun will change the way your day works – and new shooters need to understand that and to understand ways to cope with it.


We cover some very basic legal aspects of defensive carry explicitly touching on AOJP – Ability, Opportunity, Jeopardy and Preclusion.  We bring in disparity of force as well. 


We work on the idea of purposefully observing your surroundings as your go through your day and making sound defensive decisions based on what you observe.


Next we move into the beginnings of defensive shooting.  We work through a persons natural response to a threatening situation and then see how that can be adapted to the beginnings of an armed response. 


We talk about different methods of aiming a defensive handgun from true sighted fire to alternatives that are quicker when the time for sighted fire is just not there.


Safe gun handling is simply a must to that is a major part of the entire day beginning on the in-classroom SIRT range.  I can cover up to 5 shooters on a make-shift SIRT range.  This gives us a tremendous opportunity to work on stance, grip, sight alignment, sight picture, trigger press and follow through without the added concern of live fire.  We can introduce range commands, loading methods, various drills they will experience in the safety and comfort of a SIRT range.


Finally, we get to range work moving students from drills that are actually “movement by command” drills up through single and multiple round engagements and ending with an introduction to the use of cover and concealment.  All in all their range time is typically about 3 hours and 200 rounds of ammunition.  It ends with a 30-round qualification shoot where we evaluate safe gun handling, proper shooting stance and accuracy.


The course ends with a short test to evaluate overall understanding of the classroom material, an After Action Review to listen to their thoughts on the day, what they liked and didn’t like and then the distribution of course certificates.


This was a great bunch of new shooters.  They knew why they were there, were focused, interested and worked hard!  It was a fun and productive 2 days.


So, if you are looking for coursework, make sure it fits your needs.  Defensive shooting involves much more that just getting a carry permit – make sure the coursework you take move you in the right direction!

Anti-Viral Masks - An Introduction

In this time of Pandemic and Panic - Anti-Viral Masks are "a thing".  So I spent some time reviewing three different types.  Here is a link to my Facebook Video Tutorial.

https://www.facebook.com/eiaft/videos/10158409432651967/

Here are some relevant links to some of the gear I talked about.

https://www.envirosafetyproducts.com/resources/dust-masks-whats-the-difference.html

https://www.envirosafetyproducts.com/3m-6001-organic-vapor-cartridge.html

https://www.envirosafetyproducts.com/3m-6200-half-facepiece-respirator.html

https://smartairfilters.com/en/blog/coronavirus-pollution-masks-n95-surgical-mask/

https://hypertextbook.com/facts/1999/BrianLey.shtml

https://www.metric-conversions.org/length/microns-to-meters.htm

Review - Ruger American Rifle Predator in 223

Training guns . . . they are a part of every learning process.  For the last little while – past 4 years or so – I’ve been working on becoming a better precision shooter.  When I say those words what I mean is that I can put a solid group (precision) where I want them to go (accuracy).  I’ve discussed that process in an earlier post you can read HERE.  


My rifle of choice for Precision Rifle Shooting is the Ruger Precision Rifle in .308.  Match grade ammunition runs around $1.50 per round so each 50-100 round practice trip runs from $75 to $150 with store bought ammunition.  Obviously reloading enters the picture here . . . but until I’m satisfied with my efforts . . . shooting with quality ammunition is expensive.

Enter . . . Training Rifles.


My first choice here is the Ruger Precision Rifle in .22 Long Rifle.  This is a dream to shoot and reasonable good match ammunition is available for about $75 for 500 rounds.  A significant difference.  I’ve chatted about this rifle and my search for good ammunition on my blog as well.  On a 50 yard range I can frequently shoot 1 MOA and below.  This allows me to work on all the fundamentals without spending a crap ton on ammunition.  That said, there is something said for working with a rifle that also allows some work on recoil mitigation and that will reliably reach out to 100 yards or more.  

Enter the .223.


I have a backup rifle for my Patrol Rifle that I take to coursework in case my primary takes a crap.  So, I put a moderately priced Nikon Prostaff 5 scope on it, upgraded the trigger, added a bipod and a couple 10-round magazines and presto-change-o . . . training rifle!   MMMmmmm . . . not so much.  As you can see, even with higher quality Frontier .223 with match grade bullets, my groups just plain sucked.  So . . . time to look for a “real” rifle.

I had a couple requirements.  It couldn’t break the bank.  I’m sure for a couple grand I could find a hell of a shooter . . . but . . . “couple grand”.  That said, I wanted a rifle that could consistently shoot a 1 MOA group at 100 yards.  That is the length of the range I have full access to and where I spend most of my time working on foundational shooting.  Let the internet search begin!  While I found a number of rifles that met my requirements, I finally settled on the Ruger American Rifle – Predator in .223.  To be honest, the deciding factor was that there was one in stock at a local Sheels store for $469 . . . and I could pick it up at lunch time.  But, after the first 100 rounds or so I gotta say I’m pretty darn happy with the purchase.


I picked up my son, had a quick lunch and headed to Sheels to claim my rifle.  After the usual paperwork (in Iowa carry permits expedite things to the point I could walk out with my rifle at the time of purchase) I dropped him at his house and headed back home and to my office.  Here I quickly transferred the scope to the Predator mounting it with a pair of Leupold scope rings.  As a reminder, make sure the bottom of the rings are pushed forward in the notch of the rail before you torque them down to the recommended levels.  And, leave the top rings loose until you get the eye relief how you want it before you torque the top of the ring screws down to the recommended levels as well.  I did not lap the rings, I’ll see how things go long term.  Honestly, I was just plain impatient to hit the range to see how this fellow shot.  I did a function check, ran a few patches through the bore and grabbed a couple boxes of PMC 55gr ball ammunition.  By the time I got to the range I had an hour and a half of daylight left.  The good news . . . it was 57 degrees . . . on January 9^th . . . at 4PM in the afternoon!!!  


I typically start with a 10-yard 50/200 zero with a .223 round.  I removed the bolt, bagged the rifle and did a quick bore sight adjustment on the scope.  At that distance the round will impact about 2 inches below your POI.  That complete, I put a couple rounds through it to confirm.  It was spot on.  I just had time to put 25 rounds down range at 50 yards to confirm zero.  You can see the results on the 5 targets.  The smallest group was .50 . . . the largest was 1.375.  The average was .95 over 5 targets.   I was fine with this for first shots . . . and . . . it was nearly dark.  The 100-yard range would have to wait until another day.

The 100-yard day came the following day, January 10^th.  The day was a bit more “seasonal”, reaching a high of 29 degrees.  But otherwise it was a very nice day for shooting.  Before getting to the range I hit the local gun store for some better-quality ammunition – Frontier 5.56 loaded with a Hornady 75gr BTHP match bullet.  


Given that the Frontier was a bit pricier, I thought I’d wring out the PMC 55gr ball ammunition as well as the Frontier with the 75gr BTHP match bullet.  So I hung two zeroing targets and two targets to shoot for both accuracy and precision.  As you can see from the zeroing targets (with the rotated 3 ½-inch squares) its performance was poor and that followed through to the 5 separate 3 inch targets.  Accuracy was crap as was precision.  I was praying that this was NOT a sign of things to come with the Frontier ammunition.

As you can see the first zero group was high and right.  I dialed down and left and shot a second group on target #1 – much better.  I then shot a final group on target #2 – I was happy with that measuring around .5” in height and 1.25” in width.  On to the 25- round evaluation.  As you can see from the 5 targets, accuracy and precision was MUCH better with an average group size of 1.175.  I gotta say I was much happier with the performance of the Frontier ammunition and it would seem I have exactly what I was looking for – a .223 rifle that is consistently capable of a 1 MOA group at 100 yards.  I’m pretty darn early in this “relationship” but after my first focused range trip, I’m encouraged with the performance of this $469 rifle.


Some over all thoughts.  The value of the purchase is exceptional.   It’s a well-made firearm, has a heavier barrel and I saw no real loss of performance while attempting to run a total of 100 rounds through it in a couple hours. The stock has a nice “feel” to it and provides for an easy and firm grip.  The butt plate is fairly soft and provides for quite a bit of recoil mitigation – not that there is much recoil to begin with. I will be adding a riser pad to the comb of the stock to help with consistent placement of the rifle to my cheek.  For this trip I simply laid a couple leather gloves over the comb to act as a riser.  As an aside – I had 7 failure to fire rounds with the Frontier ammunition.  The failed rounds have been passed on to the supplier but, that number of failures over 50 rounds is disappointing.  While the bolt was a bit stiff at the beginning it smoothed out considerably over the range trip.  I suspect that will continue to improve.  The trigger broke right at 3 pounds and seemed consistent over the range trip.  This matches with both the 22LR and the .308 precision rifles from Ruger allowing a consistent trigger press across the three platforms.


All in all, I’m more than happy with my purchase of the Ruger American Rifle – Predator in .223.  If you are looking for a good training rifle that doesn't blow a hole in your wallet, I would suggest you t ake a look at the Predator.

Training - 2020 - 1000 Rounds

We’ve had this discussion before.  But, given the recent events at the church in Texas, the shooting and knifing of Jews in NYC, the direct threats of Iran after we eliminated the worlds single most dangerous terrorist . . . I thought a gentle reminder might help.  First let’s set the table . . .

HELP IS NOT COMING . . .

YOU ARE YOUR ONLY “FIRST RESPONDER” . . .

It’s a simple binary choice . . .

DIE . . . or . . . FIGHT . . .

CHOOSE!!  NOW!!

Dramatic??  I don’t think so.  Watch the video of the Texas church or the two shooters entering the Jewish grocery.  The violence was direct, overwhelming . . . and fatal.  In the case of Texas it ended in 6 seconds after three members of a church security team acted to stop the shooter.  Two died, as did the shooter . . . in 6 seconds.

In the grocery attack, the shooters killed 2 officers, 3 civilians.  There were no “good guys with guns” (because “New York” and “only the police need guns”), just law enforcement.  The standoff lasted hours.

Notice a difference??  How things can go when you arm to defend yourself and when you bet your life on “dial 911”?  


My point is not to argue the fine points of these two events.  If you read this blog, I assume you have some level of dedication to carrying a defensive firearm.  In my not so humble opinion – this is your best bet to insure you and your family go home, each and every evening, safely.  And, that should a bad guy pop up, you can quickly and decisively handle that situation.

While there are many elements to this – from clothing to education – let’s focus on the foundation, Marksmanship, Gun Handling and Mindset.  If you can’t hit what you’re aiming at, if you can run your gun, if you can keep you head in the game under stress . . . you have a problem.

This post is NOT about acquiring your skillset initially.  That process is a simple process of time, money and willingness.  Take GOOD coursework – annually.  Make sure it includes range time that instructs and teaches.  Typical courses run 1 to 3 days and cost $200 to $1500, not including your travel and somewhere between 500 and 1,000 rounds.  If you have not taken one of these courses – the story you are telling yourself about your skills and abilities is simply a lie.  Please, set time and money aside and schedule a course for this year.

What this post IS about is what you need to do to maintain your skillset.  Just maintain . . . if you want to evaluate and grow your skills pick a set of coursework for the coming year that will focus on what you want to work on.  Myself for example – in March I’m taking a one-day Precision Rifle shooting course working on all the foundational stuff as well as spotting and wind calls.  Also in March I’m taking an Instructor Development course for handgun to get a POST Certified LE instructor certification as well as a course on the development of Force on Force coursework.  Finally, in May I’m taking a 3-day traveling Gunsite course for tactical shotgun.  That comes to 48 hours of instruction I am TAKING.  For instructors I find this type of annual schedule is imperative.  If we’re not growing individually as an instructor – how can we expect our students to?

But, on top of this is at least one monthly trip to the range where I set aside 100 rounds to maintain what I am learning and what I consider necessary skills as a defensive shooter.  I’ll miss 2 months because of family or weather or illness or . . . just plane “I don’t wanna go today!!”.  But, the other 10 months I’ll be out there working.  So, let’s talk about that, specifically . . . a day on the range with 100 rounds getting “good work done!”

For you – start today and place that order for 1,000 rounds for your EDC handgun or your home defense handgun.  My vendor of choice is Luckgunner.com and my preferred manufacturers are PMC, Blazer and Magtech.  I’ve had excellent service from Luckygunner and these manufacturers have not disappointed me for my range ammo.

Next – what do I shoot at??  Well, there’s all types of targets that I’ve used in the past – from 8-1/2 x 11 pieces of paper to steel.  I’ve settled on the LE Targets SWAT SEB training target.  You can buy 100 targets for around $35 which will give you 10 targets per trip – that should be plenty for the year.

There are other advantages to this target as well.  It’s obvious that the shape is human – and not a pie plate.  That allows you to become familiar with shot placement.  What does it take to make a headshot?  Can you quickly discern between a number, shape, center mass or pelvic girdle?  It is one of the elements in the mix to move you practice from just making holes on paper to preparing to meet a lethal threat.

What distances should you work at?  My recommendation is 5, 7, 10, 15 and 25.  Manage your magazines and ammunition so you use 3 or more magazines, perform magazine changes and – if you want – mix in some dummy ammunition to force you to manage malfunctions.  Fire 10 rounds at each distance.  Your course of fire would look like this . . .

“UP” command – 2 rounds high center mass box.

“Head” command – 1 round in the ocular cavity.

“1 or 2 or . . . 6” command – 1 round in the numbered shape.

“Square or Circle or Triangle” command – 1 round in each shape.

This is not the order of the course of fire but rather that commands given.  The commands should be mixed providing multiple engagements from each distance.

Once you’ve sent your 10 rounds down range from 5 yards, move back to 7 and repeat.  Do this process for 10 rounds at each distance until you’ve fired you first 50 rounds.  At the 25 yard line focus on just the high center mass box, you’re looking for an effective shot and, frankly, under stress most shooters will be good to hit the shooter at all, let alone a precision shot like a head shot.

Then, change out the target and repeat it again but this time starting at the 25-yard line and moving forward.  


Each engagement should begin from your everyday carry configuration taking into account the weather.  If it’s cold, you’ll have extra clothing to contend with.  Raining??  Same thing.  Warm and sunny . . . count yourself lucky.  


Finally, score your targets.  Any round touching the outline of the proper shape counts.  You’re looking for a minimum score of 80%.  I suspect most will find the 25-yard shots very challenging – keep working on them.  Remember to have solid fundamentals – stance, grip, sight alignment, sight picture, push out to your biomechanical stop, a smooth trigger press.  I’d love to say I’m a wizard to 25 yards – I’m not, it takes real work.  Put the time in.

So how do you run through this course of fire?  The easiest is with a shooting partner.  Have them call out the commands.  It’s easier if they write down each string of fire for each distance.  However, should you be sans shooting partner, there’s also the recording feature of your phone.  Record an entire 50 round string of fire allowing about 15 seconds per shot to accommodate your draw and your holstering after your shot.  Tell yourself when it’s time to move as well.  You may have to pause to accommodate the loading of magazines . . . or simply buy a couple more to smooth out the process.

Finally, after you’ve recorded the 50-round course of fire, plug in some earbuds, cover them with your ear-pro and do your thing.

This type of range trip typically takes about 2 hours for me.  This process is also adaptable to most indoor ranges as well with the exception that the engagement begins at the High Compressed Ready.  What you miss here you can work on at home using dryfire.

Which, BTW, should also be part of your mix.  If you spend a couple 15 minute sessions each day working with your draw, drive out and engagement of a threat it will pay great dividends in your range work as well as at a time where you are forced to engage a real threat.

One other caveat here . . . this type of work needs to be done with each firearm you depend on to defend your and your family’s life.  For me, that’s simply a Glock 17 that I carry every day – even as I type this post.  But, if you roll between a Glock, 1911, revolver . . . they you need to speed 1,000 rounds per platform.  Which is why I have a single platform . . . I’m relatively cheap!!

That said, I do also have an AR carbine in 5.56 for home defense.  And, I spend the same amount of work, with the same amount or rounds per month on that platform as well.  I do change the distances and spend 30 rounds at 15 yards and 20 rounds at 50 with high center mass engagements only at that distance.  I zero my “Patrol Rifle” at 50 yards which provides a very serviceable range of 50-200 yards should I find the need to reach out a bit farther.  The only HUGE caution is that as distances grow, the imminent threat that is presented diminishes quickly – remember that!

So, there you go . . . your homework assignment for the year.  100 rounds of good work once a month.

See you at the range!

Just the Basics - Ammunition Does Matter

This past week I made a range trip to brush off some of the rust in my precision shooting efforts.  The post is entitled “Evaluating Targets” under the “Training” heading.  I used a mix of Aguila ammunition that I had on hand.  I suppose you’d call this “plinking” ammunition.  My primary use is in by introductory handgun classes.  The targets are large, the distance are around 5 yards and the primary thing I am interested in is safe gun handling and very basic marksmanship.  The Aguila works just fine for that.

However, I will confess to some frustration that at 50 yards, 5 rounds per target, my group size was 2”-ish.  To tighten things up I picked the best 3 rounds (smallest group) of the five thus using a rough “average” to tighten up my group size.  With that caveat my group size was right at .5”.  Not bad . . . but the visual of the targets with rounds splattered around bothered be.

When I posted the article to a couple different Facebook shooting groups I received a lot of “why the heck did you use Aguila ammo for precision shooting???” type comments.  Heavy sigh . . . Because I did???  Anyway, I looked through by ammo stash and found 2 boxes of Eley Club ammunition.  I had shot up 8 boxes of a 10-box brick and found I was quite happy with the performance.  So, with a day filled with sun, no wind and mid-30s I thought I’d spend a couple hours at the range just to see how it performed.  I wasn’t disappointed.

First, let’s chat a bit on what goes into making a precise shooting round.  In a word – consistency.  The bullet weights of all rounds are the same.  The Eley Club round is lubricated ensuring consistent loading into chamber.  A precise power load each and every time.  A consistent case size and good application of priming compound inside the rim of the casing.  Do these things, exactly the same, each and every time . . . and you will have a precise cartridge that will perform exactly the same every time it is fired.

Accuracy is the other side of the coin and that is up to you and your rifle.

As a reminder, here is my target from the earlier trip with the Aguila ammunition.  

   

As you can see, the only way you can begin to detect the accuracy of my rifle and my shooting is by finding the best the shots.  Certainly not ideal and, for me, it was frustrating.  So let’s see how the Ely Club ammunition performed.

  

As you can see, the difference is stark.  While there are a couple groups that opened up, the precision and accuracy of each round is significantly better.  Other than making myself feel better, what’s the value in this?  Better, more consistent practice sessions.  If I always have to worry about whether it’s just crappy ammunition or a crappy shooter I’m not going to make much progress on all the little nuances of precision shooting.  But, if I have confidence in the performance of the ammunition . . . and I have some thrown rounds . . . I can begin to correct my problems. 

So, about this time my curiosity tickles me a bit . . . how would this stuff shoot at 100 yards?  It turns out that the Eley Club is actually designed to be a 50 yard round.  But surely I can push it out a bit, right.

First things first, the ballistics of the round.  There are any number of ways you can get from here to there – on-line calculators, manufacturer spec sheets, computer software, formulas . . . or how about “there’s an app for that”??

I have an Android phone and have chosen the Strelok Pro.  If memory serves it’s about a $7 app but worth every penny.  It’s rolled through 3 phones with no additional charge and is continually updated.  One of the latest is a Bluetooth link to the Kestrel family of weather meters.  It has a database of 1460 reticles, 3226 cartridges and around 1500 different bullets.  There is a free version that comes with a limited number of reticles, cartridges and bullets though you can define you own if you wish.  It’s enough for you to evaluate the product but for the price it’s a great chunk of software.

It allows you to define different rifles and attach to each their particular scope and the individual cartridge.  Switching between different rifles is simply a drop-down menu choice.  As can see in the image below I’ve selected the Ruger Precision .22 with a Vortex Crossfire II 6x18 44mm scope and it’s reticle.  Also selected is the Eley Club .22 caliber round.  I’ve defined the rifle zero as 50 yards. 

Insert strelok definitions screen here

This yields a couple useful chunks of data.  One a ballistics chart with the hold over required, in this case right at 6 inches.  And it yields an image of what you would see through the scope.  It shows a holdover of 6 MOA or two hash marks.  Since this is not precisely the reticle of the scope I started with a holdover of 2.  

  

The result looked like this . . .

Notice that the hold over seems to be good but the rounds are about 1.5” right.  That means I need to move the zero 6 “clicks” or 1.5 MOA to the left.  The results of that can be seen on targets 4 and 5.  Each target is 3” with a 1” center.  At this point I had a half box of the Eley Club left so I posted one more target seen below.

This was my first outing with the Ruger PR .22 cal at 100 yards.  The groups the small squares are .25” and I would estimate that all the groups are 2 MOA or smaller with a couple being sub 1 MOA.

Nothing to really write home about for real competitive shooters but I’m not sure I want to invest the time and money getting to a single hole.  I believe I can get to a consistent sub 1 MOA group and will explore some of the competition rounds that Eley makes at the suggestion of a number of very helpful folks on the FB groups.  Other than that, I’ll focus on the fundamentals, do my best to keep the flyers ammunition related . . . not shooter related.

And, I’ll take advantage of this trainer to refine my skill set so I can work with my RPR in .308 and push my range out to 800+ yards with is the limit of a local range.

Bottom line, this little trip again allowed me to learn, grow a bit as a shooter, confirm some of my hardware and software and demonstrated the real difference between the “cheap stuff” and the “good stuff”.  The “excellent stuff” might have to wait until Spring . . .