17-mile ride

This morning I got the Nishiki Maricopa out for a 17-mile ride on the Skook. The Selle Anatomica saddle I recently bought is turning out to be one of my best cycling-related purchases. I didn't get any numbness in my danglies during or after the ride.

I think a big part of the comfort is the slot in the middle which provides some pressure relief and improves blood circulation. If you're cycling and experiencing discomfort in your perineum or genitals it's worth looking into getting a better saddle, which doesn't mean one of those big, cushy ones.

New Bike Saddle

Now that I've been getting back on my bikes I've been experiencing some discomfort down below. One suggested remedy for that is a leather saddle that after a break-in period will conform to your anatomy without the extra pressure that a padded saddle can cause (yes, that's counter-intuitive).

So, I ordered an H1 saddle from Selle Anatomica. As you can see in the picture it has a cutout in the center for pressure relief.

Today I took my first ride on it, about 8.3 miles on the Schuykill River Trail. I still need to tweak the angle of the seat but my first impressions are favorable. Assuming that I like it after a couple more rides I'll probably order another one for my Trek 820.

Full Charge Wadcutters

Inspired by this article by C.E. (Ed) Harris, earlier this month I loaded up a batch of full power .38 Special wadcutters. Wadcutter ammo in .38 Special is usually loaded light for target shooting. However, when loaded to the same power level as .38 service loads, wadcutters are effective on game and for self defense use. Expansion is minimal but they penetrate very well and cut a full-caliber hole the entire way.

The loads I shot today consisted of:

• Winchester .38 Special wadcutter brass,
• CCI small pistol primer,
• 3.5 grains of Alliant Bullseye powder, and a
• 148 grain button nose, bevel base wadcutter sized to .359" from Matt's Bullets.

Note that Ed Harris uses 146 grain double end wadcutters cast from a Saeco mold. I chose the button nose design cast from a Lyman 35891 mold because they may offer slightly better accuracy at long range (i.e., over 50 yards). The difference is probably minimal, however. The bevel base does make loading them in the brass a little easier.

Something interesting to note in that reading various forum posts over the years about .38 wadcutter loads, it appears that these bullets virtually always give best accuracy when loaded to full power.

In any event, my Smith & Wesson Model 15-3 likes this load. This 12-shot group was fired today from about 10 yards, shooting double action:

I caused the 2 flyers.

I'm going to load up a bunch more of these rounds.

Bike Maintenance Day

Yesterday on my ride I noticed that the derailleur didn't want to shift all the way down onto the largest cog. I probably knocked it out of adjustment when I changed the tires. Today I fixed it.

The Lectric XP is too heavy to put on my regular bike maintenance stand, so I picked up a set of Handlebar Jacks, along with the extensions for a little more lift to protect the brake and shift levers, and especially the display.

Here are the jacks strapped to the handlebars:

And the bike upside down on them:

The bike is reasonably steady in this position but you still need to be careful to not knock it over. A bike with wider handlebars would be steadier.

Here's what they look like stowed for storage.

I recommend the Handlebar Jacks to anyone with one of these heavy e-bikes who wants to work on it himself. Doing maintenance with the bike upside down like this isn't as handy as having it on a proper stand but it beats balancing the bike directly on the handlebars. Plus, you can easily take the Handlebar Jacks with you on rides. I keep them in the rack trunk.

I recommend the book for anyone who wants to do at least basic maintenance. There's a version specific to road bikes, which I also have.

First Bike Ride Since September

After work this afternoon I took the Lectric XP out on the Cross County and Schuykill River Trails for a ~14 mile ride. Aside from a quick spin around the 'hood after I mounted them, this was my first ride since September.

The Vee Speedsters are a major improvement over the factory knobby tires. The bike now rides almost as quietly as my Trek 820 with Serfas Drifter tires.

I must have knocked the derailleur while changing the rear tire as it needs some tweaking. Since my bike maintenance stand can't handle the XP, I picked up a set of Handlebar Jacks which should simplify working on it.

Garand Thumb: Basics of Urban Combat Survival and Assault Pack Setup

 Garand Thumb posted this up on YouTube the other day. You should watch it.

Id' say the tone is a bit more serious than most of his videos. Current events in Ukraine are obviously an inspiration for the video. The impression I get (as well as some other folks who have more inside scoop) is that this kind knowledge may become valuable here in the US in the not-too-distant future.

Along those lines, I recommend checking out the Integrated Skills Group website, with these articles in particular:

• Hard Lessons: Urban Survival
• Selecting a Backpack
• Lines of Equipment 2: Sustainment - Life Support for Disasters

But don't just be a gear queer, read the stuff on skills and mindset.

Personal Security Checklist

One thing we've seen from Ukraine is enemy action taking place on information given up by people on the other side who are sloppy with personal and operational security. The presence of smart phones on the battlefield is a goldmine for intelligence.

Here's a list to get started on not being a PERSEC/OPSEC dumbass:

https://github.com/Lissy93/personal-security-checklist

New Tires for my E-Bike

Last year I bought a Lectric XP e-bike. After riding it for awhile I came to dislike the knobbie tires that it came with from the factory, since I ride it solely on pavement. They add drag and a lot of road noise. However, because it uses 20 x 4 tires options for replacement are limited.

I'd read a couple of posts online extolling the Vee Tire Company's Speedsters, which have a smoother, inverted tread pattern. However they were out of stock everywhere I looked for quite awhile. I checked their website in early March and saw that they had a special where I was able to get two tires for $160 shipped from Vee in Thailand. They arrived in a timely manner but I didn't install them until today.

I actually would have preferred blackwalls but all they had at the time were the gumwalls. That said, they give the bike a bit of a retro look.

After getting them installed I took the bike for a quick ride around the block to make sure I had everything reassembled correctly and to get a feel for them.

My initial impressions are very favorable. The bike rides much more smoothly and quietly now. I'm hoping that the reduced rolling resistance improves range a bit, too.

.357 Magnum / .38 Special Opinions

 Over on Bushcraft USA, a member posted the following:

So, I've had this whole .357 magnum revolver idea stuck in my head about long enough now that it's kind of becoming a serious consideration.

I have no interest in concealed carry, this would be strictly a woods bumming gun.

I've owned very few handguns over the years. the two longest running are, a Contender in 7-30 Waters scoped bull barrel for about twenty years. It was fantastically accurate, but awkward to carry and shooting offhand was difficult at best. It was very barrel heavy. I traded it for a milling machine about ten years ago and as much as I enjoyed shooting it I don't miss it. It never really fit my hunting style. For deer I've always been a still hunter in very thick cover. 

I have a Ruger Bearcat .22 that it's only redeeming quality is it is light weight. I hate the fixed sights, to me that ruins the whole gun package. Also we don't have grey squirrels or cotton tails around here except in town pretty much. We can't shoot grouse with anything other than a shotgun. So snowshoe hares are the only thing to shoot with a .22.

In comes the .357.

I seem to think it would be fine for the heavy cover thick brush highly mobile style of deer hunting that I like with shots of 40 yards or less.

Loaded with .38 special it would be enough for the odd coyote or even more rare fox.

Maybe some wadcutter for small game if I wanted or just plinking and fooling around.

And realistically fooling around would probably be its primary job. 

I have most of my reloading stuff yet, so handloads are an option if I decided to go back down that rabbit hole again.

...

To which I replied:

My favorite handgun cartridge is .38 Special. It handles everything I need a pistol to do, with mild recoil, useful power, and excellent accuracy.

In my opinion, the most versatile handgun you can have is a medium frame .357 Magnum double action revolver with a 4" barrel. They a full sized guns but small enough for concealed carry with the right holster.

With the right ammo you can use them for target shooting, hunting game up to deer sized, training new shooters, and self defense.

Reloading .38 Special and .357 Magnum is relatively easy because they are straight walled, rimmed cases. Carbide sizing dies eliminate the need to lubricate cases. They are usable with a wide variety of powders (even black powder, since the .38 was originally designed for it). There is a huge variety of bullets available in cast, swaged, plated, powder coated, and jacketed flavors.

If you're OK with limiting yourself to single actions, Ruger makes the Blackhawk Convertible that comes with .357 and a 9mm cylinders, further increasing versatility. Taurus sells the 692 double action that comes with .357 and 9mm cylinders.

Check out the articles by Ed Harris about the .38 Special (among other things) hosted at https://www.hensleygibbs.com/edharris/backcreekdiary.htm.

And of course, a .357 revolver makes a dandy companion to a lever action in the same caliber. Even full house .357s are mild to shoot in a carbine and firing .38s in a carbine is much like shooting a .22.

Shotgun "Violin" Reloading Technique

In the TFBTV video I linked to yesterday, one of the things demonstrated is the "violin" reloading technique. This is a reloading method in which you place the butt of the empty shotgun on top of your strong side shoulder for support while reloading. The supports it with minimal muscle effort and allows you to load rounds into the chamber and magazine after the gun has run dry.

However, when we saw it in the video it was always done by a right handed shooter. I'm left handed and wondered how it would work for us southpaws. So, I grabbed my 1951-vintage Remington 870 Wingmaster and a couple snap caps.

As it turns out, the technique is viable for lefties:

1. With the action open, place the butt on top of your left shoulder with the gun laying on its side so that the ejection port is skyward. Support the front end of the gun with your right hand.
2. With your left hand, place a round into the ejection port and chamber it.
3. Rotate the gun so that it's now upside down with the loading port skyward.
4. Load rounds into the magazine using your left hand.
5. After the gun is reloaded go back to a ready position or firing position, as the situation dictates.

Ok, cool. Is this something I really need to practice?

IMO it depends. It will be very useful when shooting a match or taking a shotgun class. On the other hand, if you're a civilian relying on a semiauto or slide action shotgun for defense, the odds of you ever needing to reload in a gunfight are very, very slim. As Greg Ellifretz recently posted on his blog:

I dug deeply into the details of almost 1800 shootings for my study on firearm stopping power.  Outside of cops shooting at barricaded suspects, I never saw a single gunfight where the defender emptied his shotgun.  If you plan to miss a lot, you’ll probably want to have some extra ammo on board.  But the reality is that if you hit your target, I rarely see cases that required more than two shotgun rounds.  One or two hits with 00 buck or slugs tend to be very decisive stoppers.

With most defensive shotguns holding between four and eight rounds, you probably will not need any extra ammo for your home defense shotgun.  I would not criticize you a bit for wanting to minimize weight by just carrying the rounds in the magazine tube.  Take a look at my SBS 870.  It only holds four rounds in the mag tube and I have no spare ammo on the gun.  The reality of the situation is that I’m exceedingly unlikely to need more than four 00 buck cartridges in my home defense gunfight.

Emphasis added by me.

Now, with that being said, practicing reloads is a good idea because it builds familiarity with your weapon, which makes it more likely that you can manipulate it properly under stress, and if you need to clear a malfunction it will be easier.

Of course, if you're a cop or a soldier armed with a shotgun, you should definitely practice reloads because as Ellifretz notes, there are fundamental differences between those who seek to avoid trouble and those who are charged with running towards it.

Finally, I recommend that anyone who has a gun for defense should buy a set of functioning dummies and/or snap caps. They are vastly safer to use when checking function or running drills at home than using live rounds.

TFBTV: Combat Shotgun Basics with Clint Smith of Thunder Ranch

 This video is one of the best I've seen on using shotguns for defense.

It's about 23 minutes long and worth watching the whole thing.

Esstac Shotshell Card

The old, cheap elastic butt cuff that used to adorn my Mossberg 500 stretched out after several years. Rather than purchasing another one, I decided to try putting on an Esstac 4-round shotshell card. It's attached to the stock with heavy duty Velcro tape.

Since I'm left handed, it's mounted on the left side of the stock so the right side is unobstructed.

I actually purchased two of the cards, so if I'm camping or the SHTF I can throw the second one in my pocket for another 4 rounds.

I've also seen pictures of shotshell cards attached to the left side of the receiver. This won't work for me because I keep the gun in a Mossberg Loc-Box that surrounds the receiver.

Anyway, the sewing on the Esstac card appears to be very high quality. The loops are tight, and it was a bit of a struggle inserting the shells. I expect they'll stretch a little. We'll see how the Velcro holds up.

If this doesn't work out my plan is to get a stock cuff from Hill People Gear.

Good reading on home defense shotguns

I recently found a few posts on the MDTS Training site that are worth reading, regarding defensive shotguns:

• Optimizing the Defensive Shotgun
• Shotgun Ammo for Home Defense
• Shotgun Ammo for Home Defense, Part 2

Recently, I bought 100 rounds of Prvi Partizan 2.75" 1200 FPS 00 buckshot. Full power buck is generally rated for 1300 FPS so this should hopefully have somewhat less recoil. The Prvi ammo is old school: non-buffered, it looks like it's not in a shot cup, and is held in place with a clear plastic over-shot card that's roll-crimped to secure it. I expect it to open up much more quickly than Federal Flite Control but for inside use in a subdivision that may not be a bad thing.

In a couple weeks I'll be heading upstate again and hope to test the Prvi buckshot for function and pattern in my Mossberg, after which I'll post a report.

New Stock for my Mossberg 500

Like millions of other Americans, I keep a 12 gauge shotgun for home defense. In my case, it's a Mossberg 500 Mariner. It's basically a regular 18.5" barreled Mossberg 500 but with an electroless nickel finish on the metal and it came with black plastic furniture.

Several years ago I replaced the too-long factory stock with a Hogue youth-sized stock, giving it a 12" length of pull. Even though I'm only about 5'5" tall that was too short to shoot comfortably, so I added a Kick-Eze slip-on recoil pad to add another inch or so. That wasn't ideal because it just didn't feel solid.

So, last week I replaced the Hogue with a Magpul SGA, which is adjustable via adding or removing spacers. I set it up for a 13.5" LOP.

The pistol grip section is more vertical than either the factory or Hogue stock, but it's comfortable for me. I was initially concerned that the comb was a bit too high but after shooting the gun with the new stock, it's not.

Last weekend I was camping on private property where I had the chance to shoot it with a couple different loads. First were a few Herter's buck and ball (a single .650 ball plus six No.1 buckshot) from Cabela's. Second were some Remington 00 buck that I bought years ago at Walmart.

Both were high-brass 1300 FPS 2.75" loads, and of course they kick quite a bit. The Magpul's recoil pad made them bearable for a few rounds.

At home, the Mossberg is kept ready with Federal reduced recoil 00 buck featuring Flite Control wads. They are a lot more pleasant to shoot and will be plenty effective in the unfortunate event I ever need to use it.

No doubt someone reading this will wonder why I'm using a shotgun for home defense in 2022 instead of a pistol caliber carbine or an AR-15. Shotguns remain highly effective defensive arms to this day. Greg Ellefretz has a recent post that mirrors my thoughts on the matter.

You'll note from the picture that my shotgun lacks a light, red dot, laser, sling, or curb feelers. IMO, home defense shotguns should be kept as slick as possible. It's been awhile but I've shot in multigun matches and my shotgun with a simple bead was always at least as fast as guns with ghost rings or optics. (Read Ellefretz's article on why I don't have a sling or light on it. I might add a light, but in the house a sling has too much potential for getting caught on something, IMO.)

Yes, it kicks a lot and doesn't carry a lot of ammo. But the Mossberg is light, handy, reliable, fast on target, and the terminal ballistics are basically unmatched at the range I would need it at.  I live in white bread suburbia, not a war zone.

As Ellefretz notes, it's extremely uncommon for someone defending his home with a shotgun to need to reload in a fight. That said, I had an elastic butt cuff with 5 spare rounds on it on the stock. I am replacing that with an Esstac 4-round card. That will allow me to grab the shotgun have nine rounds of GTFO in/on the gun.

One thing I found interesting during the early days of the pandemic was that aside from all the military-style rifles and handguns that sold out, so did fighting shotguns. Americans get combat shotguns more than most other people.

As an aside, when I got the Mossberg I sometimes ran into sticky extraction. I did some online searching and found that I wasn't the only Mossberg Mariner owner to experience this. I resolved the issue by polishing the chamber with some Flitz metal polish on a cleaning patch wrapped around a 12 gauge bore brush, chucked in an electric drill. Since then the function has been flawless.

Edit 3/25/22:

After some more consideration and seeing how it felt, I removed one of the stock spacers, so LOP is now at 13". This enables me to more easily tuck it into my shoulder and will also be helpful if I need to use it while wearing more than a T-shirt.

Ultra Compact Pistol Cleaning Kit

Several years ago I put together the first version of this cleaning kit to accompany an M1 Carbine I used as a road trip gun. I updated it today to keep with my Beretta 71.

Contents:

• 1 pull through with loops on each end to hold a cleaning patch. This was made from two of the conductors stripped from a piece of CAT5e network cable. It's plastic coated so it won't damage the bore, and coils up to fit in the plastic bag at lower left. A boresnake or sectional cleaning rod could be substituted. I might make a short brass cleaning rod for the kit because then I could use it to push out bore obstructions.
• 1 plastic bag containing some .22 - .270 cotton flannel cleaning patches, and two pipe cleaners.
• 1 "Norton's Universal Cleaning Stick" from Countycomm.com. This is a thin plastic bar that can be used for scraping or pushing a cleaning patch through crevices.
• 1 USGI-type gun cleaning brush.
• 1 plastic bag containing a 1 oz. bottle of Rem Oil and a rag torn from an old T-shirt. Rem Oil isn't the best gun oil but it works well as a CLP for short term use and the bottle size is handy. Use your favorite gun oil or CLP.
• 1 USGI Vietnam-era surplus "Chieu Hoi" bag, into which everything fits. These were originally intended to use as covers for 20 round M16 magazines in Vietnam. The idea was that they'd be discarded on the battlefield to induce any Viet Cong who picked them up to defect. They are still readily available and make good storage parts for small parts or kits like this one.

Naturally, this isn't a comprehensive maintenance kit. Rather, it's intended to be an ultra compact cleaning kit to keep in the pistol case to keep it running as part of a grab and go kit.

The pistol, extra magazines, and cleaning kit all fit into this US Peacekeeper attache-style gun case (Amazon affiliate link). A 100 round box of .22LR ammo should also fit.

Compact .22 Handguns

This is an interesting article:

http://straightforwardinacrookedworld.blogspot.com/2012/10/dark-arts-for-good-guys-22-lr-pistol.html

It was referenced in this thread on BCUSA (I think you can read it w/o being registered):

https://bushcraftusa.com/forum/threads/22-rimfire-survival-ruck-gun-discussion.289631/

I currently have three compact .22 pistols:

A Beretta 71 "Jaguar".

It's a great, sweet shooting, and very reliable piece. However, I it might not be the best choice for hard use  due to the lack of spare parts or factory magazines. That said, I managed to find a couple sources for used factory Beretta 7x magazines on eBay. I have one on order so hopefully it'll work well.

This afternoon I dug out the Jaguar and painted the front sight with a white base coat and a high-viz green. I've been doing this on most of my pistols because it really helps with visibility cf. a plan black blade.

A Ruger SR22.

Mine has the threaded barrel. DA/SA, reliable, polymer framed, and very light. Has current, American factory support. With good ammo it's reliable but IMO it could benefit from a stronger hammer spring.

A High Standard R-101 Sentinel revolver.

Even though the HS revolvers are long out of production, I wouldn't have a problem relying on this gun. They are known for durability and of course, magazines are not an issue. It holds 9 shots in the cylinder, which gives it an edge over 6 shooters. I just got it a little over week ago so I need to run a variety of ammo types through it to see if it prefers anything in particular. Accuracy with Federal Game Shock was mediocre. I got it to the range for the second time this weekend and it seems to like Aguila Super Extra and CCI standard velocity ammo. It also shot OK with CCI Mini Mags and Remington Golden Bullets.

I also have a Ruger 22/45 Lite, which while lightweight it's not very compact, and another 22/45. An advantage of the Lite is that aside from having a threaded muzzle, it also came with a Weaver rail so mounting a compact red dot sight is easy. Mine has a Bushnell TRS-25 red dot sight on it.

Thawing a Frozen Padlock

The padlock to my generator shed was frozen solid. I wanted to unlock it in case I need it for an incoming storm. The lock is in close proximity to plastic so I didn't want to use a torch. So, I took two disposable, stick-on toe warmers and sandwiched the lock between them, then waited awhile. (The rubber band was for a little extra holding power.)

I ran out to the hardware store and when I got back about an hour later, it opened right up.

It was in the upper 20s when I did this. If it was colder you could wrap some plastic around it to hold in the heat and block the wind, but I'd leave the bottom open to allow in some oxygen for the heaters.

Sometimes Even High Quality Guns Break

Don't let anyone tell you that revolvers are 100% foolproof. If you shoot them long enough you'll run into functional issues and sometimes, parts breakage.

This afternoon I was shooting with a friend and this happened to his revolver:

That's a 1980s-vintage Smith & Wesson Model 64 K-Frame chambered for .38 Special, with a broken hammer nose. The gun is down hard until my friend replaces it. The fix shouldn't be difficult but it will require tearing down the gun pretty far.

This is the first time I've personally experience a broken S&W revolver firing pin. However, my brother owned a Rossi .357 in the 1990s and it experienced a similar failure.

If you have a small battery of guns, it's a good idea to have a spare of the one you use the most, so that you can rearm yourself if it goes down. Likewise, for small, easily lost parts, or parts known for breakage, keep spares on hand.

Antifa Intel Report From Florida's

 Very interesting. Go read it.

Varusteleka's Take on Lines of Gear

This morning I got the following email from Varusteleka:

Our spies told us that you recently bought some combat equipment. Now we want to give you some tips on how to structure your combat gear based on the line / circle principle.

In layered clothing, each layer has a specific role to play. A very similar model can be applied to other gear, too. Different countries use different terms to describe this but the concept is a similar three-layer model. In Finnish, these layers are called circles but elsewhere they are often referred to as lines. In this article, we go through the basic principles of this kind of thinking and give a few examples of how to use the concept in military and civilian applications.

The full article is here, and is worth reading. Unlike a lot of pieces I've seen on the "line" concept, it differentiates between different roles. E.g., recon scout, infantryman, military police, and civilian.

Other worthwhile articles discussing the different lines of gear include:

• Hill People Gear - Equipage
• Integrated Skills Group - Equipment: EDC Concepts
• ISG - Equipment 2: Sustainment

This concept is helpful in keeping your stuff organized, whether you're in the field or the city.

The email was prompted because the other day after watching Jess's review of the Särmä TST themal cloak, I decided to order one. I have a Jerven Original but it's a little small for use as a shelter. I also have a Jerven Hunter with 67 gsm Primaloft insulation, but I'm a bit wary of using it as a shelter because of the insulation and inner lining.

At approximately 7 feet by 7 feet, the Särmä cloak will work much better as a tarp while still not being too large for use as a bivvy or cloak. The one I ordered is one of their "special batch," which was made in the PRC rather than Estonia, as an expedient during Covid.

I should get the new Särmä thermal cloak next week, in time for my upcoming Winter break. Hopefully, I'll get a chance to try it out soon.