I've revisited checkering and just last night I finished my first full checkered panel. Pictures in the spoiler. Spoiler There's good, bad, and ugly spots but I'm satisfied so far, especially because this is the first pattern I've drawn and laid out and at least I did that well. It's just damned hard to control runovers and crooked/crossed lines when you hit hard/soft spots or awkward contours. But, overall, so far so good. Lotsa practice to do before I'll feel brave enough to do the "real deal" and put lines on a finished stock!
Saw that Cdnn has a Beretta 92 knockoff called the "Centurion" for $299. Any experience? A quick google search leads me to lots of positive "It's great for $300 range gun!" type reviews (which is exactly what I want it for). Any other recommendations for a cheap 9mm range gun?
Are you opposed to buying used? If not, check out the FNP-9. It's a great pistol and can probably be found used in good condition for around $300. There are also a ton of other good used options out there (CZ, Sig, etc.). But I've owned an FN and can speak to how nice it is.
I thought I was good to go for a small checkered panel on an almost-finished stock. About that... I made the big mistakes about 3/4 the way through laying out all of the lines so I went ahead and did them to about 1/2 final depth. There's a couple little flaws but the lines I crossed in one spot totally ruin it. Time for the eraser... 80 grit. Spoiler Woulda been a good looking job had I not fucked up. It'll set me back at least 5 hours of work and a couple weeks to get it back to where it was prior to checkering, but that's better than totally ruined. I'm not entirely pissed because it's still an improvement over my last checkering and I'm satisfied with the pattern I drew, but it still sucks to have to re-do it.
I shot another match this past weekend and had a pretty good day with my Suhl. I am so glad it shoots. My last target scored 245-12x, and the shots I really missed were shooter error. A little more tuning and tweaking and a lot more practice and I'll get that 250.
Found a hell of a deal on a slightly used HK USP Compact in .40, comes with 5 mags and all the paper work etc. Will post pics when I pick it up this weekend.
I recently bought my first pistol. A Browning Buckmark Camper. My friend put less than 500 rounds through it before he sold it to me. It is very clean and just broken in. I have wanted a .22 pistol for awhile so I could learn how to be really proficient with a handgun and have something fun to do when I want a break from rifles at the range. Eventually those rubber grips have got to go... I have too many nice chunks of wood that could be pistol grips sitting around.
Picked up a Glock 17 today. I've always loved the grip, fit for large hands like mine. What would be the most effective 9mm ammo for home defense?
<a class="postlink" href="http://www.hornady.com/store/critical_defense" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;">http://www.hornady.com/store/critical_defense</a> Shoots like a dream in my 1911, always been partial to Hornady ammo.
I shot my Buckmark last weekend and it was pretty good. I ran only 100 rounds of Federal standard lead through it but it cycled and fired 'em all just fine. Can't say my shooting was so hot but it'll be fun to practice with. I've got some blanks cut from a very dark, marbled black walnut board my grandpa cut years ago that should make good grips whenever I get to them. Too much checkering to do before then. Thankfully it's getting smoother. Spoiler For the sake of practice and trying a "different" pattern I tried to incorporate some curves into this otherwise point-like triangle. I botched the center where everything converges but otherwise I think it's something I could try later. My first attempt at a grip pattern. I laid down half of the lines tonight. I'll be happy if I can do the second half as well tomorrow.
Google is now censoring their Google Shopping results to exclude any firearms, ammo, optics, or other fun things like that. Lil article here: <a class="postlink" href="http://www.thefirearmblog.com/blog/2012/06/28/google-shopping-to-censor-all-gun-ammo-accessories-results/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;">http://www.thefirearmblog.com/blog/2012 ... s-results/</a> I checked out Google's policy page and the words are right there, and tried a number of searches with related search terms and it turns out they are actually doing it. Goodbye, Google.
The grip pattern I started working on didn't turn out too bad. Spoiler This next one is pushing the envelope a little more. Spoiler I've started some pretty straight lines but am running over the borders way too much. There was a couple times I slipped and had to just walk away tonight. Sometimes cutting tricky lines can feel like pulling the trigger during a match... every single one can be an opportunity to fuck it all up and it's easy to get that in your head. But, I'm best when I am relaxed and just focusing on pushing the tool straight. Aww yeah.
I am totally fried after this thing but am happy with it. For the first time I didn't cross any lines and managed to keep them sorta straight. Makes it look a lot better. Spoiler
Four consecutive posts in one thread? Sure. I completed a couple of tasks on the old shotgun I've been working on (for too long) and they are the type I'd either be super happy with the results or fucking livid. What tasks, you say? Checkering the fore-grip and cold-bluing the grip cap to match the old worn patina on the receiver. I gotta say I couldn't be happier with both and feel like I've climbed a couple of mountains on the journey to completing this project.
I was at the range yesterday practicing with my Suhl and brought my Marlin out too. It's not in the same league as the other rifle- this thing just ain't competitive, but still plenty fun to shoot. I would just keep it in sporter stocks for hunting but I put too much work into the walnut/carbon fiber stock I made to let it collect dust.