Sure, not silent, but a hell of a lot better than persistent ringing in my ears in the long run. Consider how lots of people will drop that much and more on optional stuff like scopes and stocks (hell mine cost way over $1K) and I don't think it sounds so bad. Also don't you think the prices could drop if the market opened up too? I already have electronic earmuffs that I wear when I can while hunting and if they become more affordable, would be the type to build up a good suppressed big game rifle for the long run (and maybe a squirrel sniper rifle for the hell of it too). Good stuff. The last paragraph reads like an Onion article.
Also I'd like to dedicate this one to my fifth grade teacher who scolded me for drawing guns, saying they were bad. Suck it, Mrs. Hanson.
My hearing is as bad enough as it is; plus a suppressor means you could spend an afternoon target shooting on your property without annoying the neighbors down the road with the noise. Since noise also comes from the chamber a suppressor will never completely 'silence' a weapon. I imagine you'd still get a noticeable amount of noise even from a suppressed bolt action rifle, but a suppressor means the difference between a BANG! and a bang!.
The suppressor helps diffuse all that gas pressure violently exiting the muzzle (like uncorking a champagne bottle), but if you're shooting supersonic ammunition you'll still hear the (very loud) sonic boom from the bullet and that will kinda defeat the purpose. I'm young so I just don't want to further fuck my ears for life. This stuff looks ridiculous: Equally ridiculous will be cutting this checkering pattern without going insane or being reduced to tears at some point. Okay much more likely is screwing up somehow and saying some very bad words in the process, but either way I think it should look pretty damn good and compliment rather than distract from the rest of the stock. Spoiler Starting with sketches, as usual... this was my fourth and final attempt here after some trial and error. Adding in overhead projector sheets.... Which leads to this thin plastic template, which I can use to precisely lay out the border lines for this pattern. I usually just draw the patterns directly onto the stock (very carefully) but the width of this stock tapers quite a bit from the breech to the fore-end tip, thanks to the 10/22 design being a chunky bastard compared to most others, so I have to use this template for a little assistance. I still have to draw out the master lines by hand and of course cut in all of the lines by hand though so there's plenty of pucker moments left to enjoy. Another little sketch, this time a revised version of that custom 40X stock I'll be starting soon. Spoiler I'm still tweaking some things but this will pretty much be it... I'm going for more European styling (think Joel Dorleac or Ralf Martini, look them up) with details like a short fore-end, swept open grip, sharp comb nose, etc. but will include some distinctly American touches like the cheekpiece shape so you don't forget where I'm from. I also realized over the weekend that this blank was cut with the grain oriented flatsawn and not quartersawn, so the wood should look marbled as hell in the end.
*deep breath* Here we go! I got a hell of a lot more cut in last night than I expected- my goal was just to get the top edge borders and master lines established but after testing out a new 3-row cutter tool, I got in the groove. A nice little benefit to checkering is the ability to camouflage obvious fuckups, like this: Spoiler You may have noticed a little something near the fore-end tip on this stock. If not, here it is. That is the result of the depth collar getting loose on the bit when I was drilling in dowels to secure the fore-end tip in place. The first two dowel holes went just fine, but while drilling the third I noticed some little chips falling out from under the stock. The bit left a nice irregular-shaped hole about 3/16" diameter in the fore-end (insert your favorite bad words here). It's one of those times where I just have to shut the lights off and walk away from the workbench before things get worse. Ah well, stuff happens so you just gotta get back in the saddle and figure out how to move on. My solution was to first dig around my pile of scrap pieces to try and find a chunk of wood that matched the wood around the hole best. Being a highly figured and colorful stick of wood made it a challenge but since I saved what I cut out for the fore-end tip, I was able to get it closer than not and went to work carving a tiny plug to fill in the hole. My first attempt cracked, the second flew out of the vise and disappeared under the bench, but the third cooperated. Was getting nervous there because my supply of somewhat-matching wood was very limited. Anyways after carving a plug and feeling confident it fit well, I started the messy part of the repair by gathering some wood dust/chips and mixing up epoxy. Because the wood around the hole in the fore-end was like a knife edge along one side (it was drilled at a steep angle), I packed in wood chips and dust with the plug because carving any deeper into the stock would cause any gap between the plug and the stock to appear larger, some gap would be inevitable, and I figured a gap full of matching chips would be better than just filling the gap with epoxy. Once the epoxy holding the plug and chip mix was setting, I went ahead and put a dowel in the hole with more epoxy to hold it in place as well. Now I could secure the plug in place with tape wrapped around the stock, since the dowel could support everything once there was pressure on it. After a generous 48 hours to cure, I carefully sliced the top of the plug off and spot sanded the area flush with the rest of the stock and was ready to proceed as normal. Hope all that made sense. I didn't take any photos of this process because I wasn't sure if it'd work out or not, but you can plainly see the results now (for better or worse) and the last step of the repair is to checker over the plug to further camouflage it. I don't think it'll completely disappear but I bet it's one of those things I'd need to point out to people for them to notice once I've checkered over it- we'll see. Either way I was very disappointed to have screwed up this far into the project, but I guess it's just the nature of the beast and it really didn't set me back too far.
I get nervous looking at those pics of you grooving, you gotta have some balls to scratch that first line.
That moment when you first start cutting and go past the point of no return defines "pucker moment." I usually need to gather courage for an hour or two after drawing on the lines before I can actually start cutting them... the second-guessing doesn't end 'til the master lines are cut and it is what it is. I'd say it's like jumping off a really tall diving board into a pool, like the hardest part is just lifting off, but in reality it's more like you're jumping through a narrow chute lined with cholla cactuses to get to the pool. Sure you can make it to the water just fine if you're really careful, but you gotta be on point the entire time because fucking up in the slightest means you're in for a really rough ride.
After about 15 hours of work (including making the template), the entire fore-end pattern is all laid out. Spoiler Now I have to revisit each line several times with a single line cutter to deepen and even them all out- plus cutting them all the way to the border so every single diamond will be sharp. Starting to form some nice diamonds on the left side already. Now with the final touch of checkering, this project is looking a lot more complete! I still have many hours of work left to do, but having the patterns fully in place now really transforms the overall look of the project to me. Now it really looks like a custom stock.
Last repeat bump (for this week), I swear. This thing has come a long ways since I cut the master lines on Monday night. I've been listening to a lot of Nine Inch Nails in the shop recently, maybe that's why things are clicking. Spoiler
I've gotten into a silly habit of anytime I hear ringing in my ears I wave into the sky and loudly say "Bye, hearing, bye!" The tinnitus is getting worse and worse. Is this a super common problem among shooters? I imagine it is. I even have electronic ear pro too.
I'm primarily a left-handed shooter, so my right ear is missing a good piece of its frequency range, and it is ringing as I type this. If there is any background noise I have a harder time hearing. If suppressors in movies didn't make that fucking "pshheww" sound, I'd probably be able to have them on most of my guns.
I'm sitting in a quiet room and my right ear is ringing a bit now. I'm 25 and probably won't get another set of ears in my lifetime. This is partially why I shoot .22s so much- even at a match when there's a high volume of shooting going on it isn't quite as hard on your ears. It's likely now that I'm going to be making four stocks and not just one for the guy who is commissioning the 40-X stock from me. He's having a set of three custom Remington Rolling Block rifles made and wants me to stock them. I'm probably booked for at least two if not three years now and will be doing exactly what I want to, so to say I'm excited is an understatement. Also, the end is in sight for this checkering job. Spoiler
This will piss off any responsible gun owner. A few nights ago a woman was shot and killed in a road rage incident. She was a 44 year old mother of 4 and a nurse. The news story had tearful interviews with the husband and one of her sons. The original story was there was some sort of altercation with another vehicle, while her 15 year old daughter was in the car, which then followed her home and shot her. They were looking for a suspect vehicle that may have bullet holes in the back because her son was able to fire at it. That last line set off all sorts of bells in my head. How the fuck did her SON get involved and be able to fire off 4 shots? They're not telling us the whole story. Today, they elaborated on the details. Yes, there was an altercation where someone yelled at her and frightened her. No, the vehicle did not follow her home. She got home and woke her oldest son, who had a gun, and WENT FUCKING LOOKING for the other car. WITH A LOADED GUN. They found the other car, which this time did not stop and confront her, but eluded her. She gave chase, lost sight of the car, and went home. This is when the other car pulled up and shot her. The only thing they have not mentioned, which is pretty fucking clear, is why the occupant of the other vehicle chose to run from her during the second encounter. Obviously, they showed the gun. Not a fucking doubt in my mind. So now all sorts of people's lives are fucked up because this idiot woman chose to bring a firearm into a situation that was either over, or should have been turned over to law enforcement. The sheer stupidity of the whole situation just blows my mind, not to mention what kind of fucked up mother would ever put her child in a situation like that?
I got on to the gun bandwagon a lot later than I would have liked to, but just recently picked up my first pistol; a SIG Sauer SP2022 9mm. Was considering getting the .40, but considering how much ammo I'll be wanting to put through it getting my shooting skills honed, I didn't want to break the bank buying ammo. Ended up getting the gun brand new, with night sights, two mags, and a cleaning kit for $430, brand new. Really awesome for a polymer frame gun, and feels a lot like a 226 for much cheaper. Picked up a box of hollow points for home defense, and a couple boxes of 124 grain Blazer Brass to start. Going forward, is there a major difference between the 115 and 125 grain? Any other advice, feedback, anything really to get me going on the right track would be much appreciated.
First, better late than never. Second, aside from bullet construction (I'm assuming hollow point vs. FMJ) and cost there shouldn't be a major difference between those rounds. Moving forward I wouldn't hesitate to take some training classes now if you're remotely interested in them and want to be assured you're getting off on the right foot, if they are available to you. Otherwise... get in regular range time with your gun (because practice makes perfect and shooting is fun), keep it clean, buy ammo when you can so you don't run out in the future, and last but not least- be safe with the thing.
Following up on suppressors... this is interesting: Major Increase in Sales of Suppressors and other NFA Items Plus, super cool pic: When temps dip below zero, my basement shop gets kinda chilly and cold fingers are no bueno when you've got to carve tiny little things. So, you bundle up in your old Carhartt coat and move on. The pores in this claro walnut wood are more open and plentiful in the checkering than I expected (a reason why stockmakers prefer English walnut), which sucks because it means I have to swab on a tiny amount of finish into the diamonds, let it cure, then ever so gently cut back over it- repeatedly. I've previously checkered a claro walnut stock with much finer pores and it took less than half the finishing effort this one will. Bottom line, I can tell when checkering has had little or no finish applied after it's been cut and I can't stand such half-assery. It hardly looks like I'm making progress at this point but I am. Hey, at least it looks good! Nice to see the color and figure in the wood showing through the checkering- means the sides of the diamonds are cut sharp and uniformly.
Went into Cabelas today, and was looking at the Walther PPK .380; really small gun. Looks really great for concealed carry in almost any application. Anyone have any experience with this gun, either in the .380 or .22?
They are decent but overpriced guns. They usually run $600+. And not really a comfortable gun but that's my opinion. Why a 380?
From what I've seen, the PPK doesn't come in a 9, which is my preferred caliber, and I've been told by a couple people that the clip fed .22 rounds in a clip fed pistol can leave a lot to be desired.