Well this is interesting - attention Maryland people!

Every morning I get deals in my inbox from both Groupon and LivingSocial.  Today's "deal" from LivingSocial is particularly interesting.  Apparently you can get a package deal for Horst & McCann, up in Harford County.

Now, I've never used LivingSocial, and I've never been to Horst & McCann, so I can't vouch for this one way or another...but this might be a great idea for those people who've never been to a range before and want to learn how to shoot.

Who'dathunk we'd see package deals to the local shooting ranges on a deal site?  I sure didn't...

Range Report: Rock Island Armory Match

I'm finally getting around to posting this...I figured today's as good a day as any, considering it's been 100 years since the pistol was given a "home" with our military.

Chris, my cousin V, and I took the pistol out to the range last Wednesday (and by "last Wednesday" I mean a month and some change ago)...and, well, I'm pleased.  This was an excellent choice for a "big kid" gun - until now my only pistol was my Bersa, and it's incredibly different from the 1911. 

So, my opinions...

The trigger is nice and light.  There is almost no effort involved, especially compared to my little Bersa.  This surprised me - I expected the trigger to be much heavier, even knowing it's a 3.5lb trigger.

The sights are nice.  I like the large black rear sight, as it helps to make the front sight seem a bit more visible than the three-dot setup on the Bersa.  The pistol is really accurate out of the box thanks to the upgraded sights, and any accuracy issues I had were entirely operator-related.

So far, there are no reliability issues.  The three of us put 100 rounds downrange - I know, it's not enough to really test it, but it was enough to make me happy.  We had one malf, and that was due to the cheap extra mags I brought along.  With the original mag, it ate all the cheap Remington I put through it.  Next visit will involve other brands - we've got Winchester and UMC in the box at home, and I look forward to seeing how it handles those.

The grips are alright, but I intend to swap them out sometime soon.  I'm just not a fan of the checkered look (or feel - my hands is delicate!), so I'll pick up a set soon.  If Wilson ever gets the set I've been eyeing back in stock, that is.

And now, here's what you've all been waiting for (click to embiggenize):

And now I realize I need to oil it up...DANG that rear sight got rusty quick!

Range visit tonight with the cousin.

Expect a full write-up of the RIA, possibly from both of us.

Will it catch on?

Far from new, but fairly unknown in the US is the sport of Biathlon. This sport involves cross country skiing and shooting. Participants have to cross country ski around a 10 to 20k course in a number of laps depending on the event and shoot between each lap at 5 targets at a distance of 50m. More details can be found here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Biathlon . It sounds very demanding, but also like a lot of fun. Most Americans, like me have only seen glimpses of this sport during the Winter Olympics, but it’s very widely followed in Europe, so much so that the State of Maine thinks it can cash in on tourists from those countries by promoting it, and building world class facilities to host international biathlon matches and other winter sports. http://www.mainewsc.org/about.html . This plan, according to their website is not only to promote winter sports, but to help Maine’s rural communities have an economic engine to support them in their future. The good news is it seems to be working. They are currently hosting the Biathlon World Cup and reports from their website indicate large crowds have turned out for the event. http://www.mainewsc.org/news.html . You can follow the news there or on http://www5.biathlonworld.com/en/ for in depth details of the matches. I think this is great news, and gives the shooting community one more thing to attract new shooters or to introduce existing ones to something new and fun.

Midway’s Wednesday Night at the Range on The Outdoor Channel

It’s Wednesday and for shooting and firearm info on TV you can find no place better than Midway USA’s sponsored block of shooting related programming on The Outdoor Channel. Wednesday Night at the Range The block of programming runs from 7pm onward and covers a variety of topics. There’s no emphasis on hunting here; it’s about guns, shooting sports, self defense and fun. I apologize if I sound a little fanboyish, but I feel that it’s needed programming on a wide range of shooting related topics that do not involve hunting. There is nothing wrong with hunting shows, ok some of them are pretty boring, and others are very good, but there are other reasons that people are into guns and shooting that get very little coverage in media. Some of these other aspects are only discussed on the internet or in magazines and never get any type of exposure to a general audience. Some of these topics include; match shooting, gun reviews, historical information, self defense, fun stuff, how to and others. It’s a good overview of topics which I think gives insight into what types of things gun enthusiasts do while providing information for gun enthusiasts on topics we want to see. I’m not going to review all the individual shows here, but may try and cover them in future posts. The overview approach is very good, and I can see what the producers are going for. As with anything there is room for improvement. There are topical shows that could be added like a C&R type historical collecting show and they could make new episodes of Cowboys which I feel are sorely missed. I would like to see The Best Defense: Survival added back in to the lineup as well. There are some standout shows like Shooting USA with Jim Scoutten which covers all types of popular related shooting activities, and Shooting Gallery from Downrange TV . Shooting Gallery and it’s very likeable host Michael Bane provide a look into different aspects of shooting related topics, some more mainstream like covering a production class division added to a competition shooting match, and some quirky like a gathering of Victorian and Edwardian age firearms enthusiasts and what they do when they get together. Whatever the topic, I feel its best feature is the underlying theme of the show, “fun” as in what kinds of fun things do other firearms enthusiasts do, and how could I get in on it? This approach concentrating on fun things is what I think needs to be emphasized in the shooting world. If you can’t watch all the shows in the lineup try and catch these 2. I bet, like me you’ll like them both for different reasons and you’ll see what I mean about a need for covering other topics.