Another lesson learned ... the hard way

It's been a week now since I decided to examine the feed ramps on the new AR-15 barrel vs. the old upper receiver. I had put the barrel on in a rush and had not thought to examine this during the installation. It was a simple matter to pull the gun out of the safe, unload it, visually verify the empty chamber, lock the bolt to the rear and take a look.

Looks like the barrel has M-4 feed ramps but not the receiver. Not a big deal since the tips of the bullets that clear the receiver won't snag on the feed ramps. Hmmm, let's look a little closer and reach up through the mag well with my index finger so feel the transition.

WHAM!!!

Ow!!! &)^^(*^%$$*)__)_^%%!!!! Ok, damage assessment, blood.... Great... @$$# that hurts! Wash the tip of the finger off in the sink. More blood... Wonderful... Kind of looks like the nail is torn... This is gonna hurt for a while... Some antiseptic, several bandaids and some duct tape and the end of the finger is bound up and I get to reflect on what happened.

Lesson learned, do NOT expect the bolt to stay back if you happen to hit the bolt release. If you want to take a good look at the rear of the barrel, do yourself a favor and take the upper off the gun and remove the bolt. You can see what your doing much easier especially if the bolt does not slam shut.

The laceration at the tip of my finger is healing. The fingernail has about a 1/4" square that was knocked loose. The entire fingertip is sore. Kind of like hitting your finger with a hammer. With the claw end...

Don't do it...

I'll spare you the pictures.

New barrel for an old AR

The old barrel removed from the gun with the shaved front sight base and gas tube



New barrel profile



The whole package complete with toes

Couple more photos from the match

Rob on shotgun stage 1

Rob on shotgun stage 2

Mark entering the maze

Mark on shotgun stage 1

USPSA Match 9/12/09

Wanda and I shot the Rocket City Practical Shooters club match yesterday. She is still shooting the Advantage Arms 22 LR conversion kit on my Glock 17 frame. This left me shooting my Glock 19. I had a pretty good day with the pistol, coming in 5th overall. Wanda had a number stoppages with the conversion kit but cleared them all without getting frustrated.

Wanda shooting the table stage with Fluffy

Yes, she got to keep Fluffy

The shotgun side match did not go so well for me. I had swapped out my 21" barrel with the bored out gas ports for a 26" stock barrel. Consequently the gun did not cycle unless I had it FIRMLY against my shoulder.

Stage one required reloads staged on three barrels, Virginia count; IE fixed number of shots. I ended up with a reshoot when I dropped one of my shells into the open cap of one of the barrels.

Stage two, I got THE jam on my 1100. I failed to seat a shell all the way into the mag tube and it sprang back part way onto the lifter. With help from the RO, I was able to get it pushed back into the mag tube on the clock and finish the stage. 20 some odd seconds of shooting with 3 minutes of jam clearing...

Stage three went well except for the miss on a slug target.

Overall it was a great day and lot of fun.

Me in the shotgun side match

Labor Day Range trip

I was finally able to bring the whole family to the range. The kids all got to shoot 22's.

Wesley

Emma

Wanda

Mom got into the fun too.

Even I got to shoot.

A good day. :)