All About Pocket Knives

wern't the ice plants wonderful at ord?
nice foggie mornings...hotter than hades in day...more fog at night...fond memories.

D 5 1...B 1 2...then ft hood...1st armored...

rangerbluedog wrote:Good shooting there Jerry! (I'll bet ya could still do it.)

Blue -- That's out of 250 and I'll bet I couldn't. I could if I could see but now days if I can see the sights, I can't see the target. If I can see the target, I can't see the sights. I use the same method as I do taking pictures with my phone or camera in bright sunlight, 'guess & shoot'.

jerryd6818 wrote:

rangerbluedog wrote:Good shooting there Jerry! (I'll bet ya could still do it.)

Blue -- That's out of 250 and I'll bet I couldn't. I could if I could see but now days if I can see the sights, I can't see the target. If I can see the target, I can't see the sights. I use the same method as I do taking pictures with my phone or camera in bright sunlight, 'guess & shoot'.

but it is an educated guess.

gringo wrote:wern't the ice plants wonderful at ord?
nice foggie mornings...hotter than hades in day...more fog at night...fond memories.

D 5 1...B 1 2...then ft hood...1st armored...

Hey Gringo. I was at Ft. Hood '66 and '67.....E Co. 123rd Maint Battalion, D Troop 1/1 Cav and D Troop 3/1 Cav, all 1st AD

gringo wrote:

jerryd6818 wrote:

rangerbluedog wrote:Good shooting there Jerry! (I'll bet ya could still do it.)

Blue -- That's out of 250 and I'll bet I couldn't. I could if I could see but now days if I can see the sights, I can't see the target. If I can see the target, I can't see the sights. I use the same method as I do taking pictures with my phone or camera in bright sunlight, 'guess & shoot'.

but it is an educated guess.

About as educated as you can get when you're blind in one eye and can't see out of the other. Actually I still do pretty well for as badly as I see. Not great but not horrible.

Hey Gringo,
I was in Ft Ord in Oct.? 66.

wern't the ice plants wonderful at ord?
nice foggie mornings...hotter than hades in day...more fog at night...fond memories.

Loved Ord: the shooting ranges up against the dunes; the big gulls taking food out my hand at lunch; really enjoyed the escape & evasion course. Having done basic in August in the middle of a swamp i.e. at Ft. Polk, the heat of Ord was not a challenge. Ah,the ice plants! Yes.

All right then: from Ord to Knox OCS;then 5th Bn, 32nd Armor attached to the 24th Inf near Munich;then Ft. Riley;then a stop a Bragg;on to RVN and back to Knox.Loved the M60A1 but wish I had a chance at the Abrams.

I was at Ord in October 66!

i got to ft ord in march of '69...ft hood in sept...tdy to ft riley for a couple of weeks in '70...
geeze...4o plus years ago...

Ft. Ord.

Ice plant, little spotted ground squirrels everywhere, Stillwell Hall, Salinas, Monterey, Cannery Row, that great Barber Shop/Speak-Easy pizza place with its massive bar and live band on the back of an old flat bed truck in the old warehouse, The John Steinbeck Theatre, a great little California museum in Salinas, The Red Pony, sports car races at Laguna Seca.

I went through The Leadership Preparation Course there at The Drill Instructors School between Basic and Infantry AIT. They had the absolute best food of any GI Chow Hall I ever saw. More selections than one could eat. Properly cooked and generously served. Even SOS was good.

"Take All You Want, But Eat All You Take" said the sign above the chow line.

I think I was in Co. E of the 11B training facility.

Left there for Ft. Benning and jump school, etc. etc.

Charlie Noyes

Ice Plant or as our Senior Drill Instructor called 'em, "Pickle Palms".


Ice Plant, outside one of the last remaining Quonset Huts at MCRD San Diego.

all those numbers are difficult to remember...
first guard duty i pulled...except firewatch..was at the bridge to the enlisted club...lol...cherry with an unloaded rifle policing vets...

I took this young lady (and her father) dove hunting with me this morning. This is a picture of me and the young lady after I found a dove I shot that fell near their field set-up. We had some good shooting, more sporadic than opening day (which was a week ago), however I managed to bag six between 0700 and 1000 and they bagged eight more between them. Good to have the ceremonial start of the hunting season in the books - very fun way to spend a Saturday morning.

Any body got any feed-back on the Ruger Mini-14 Ranch Rifle in .223??

Great littlle truck rifle Tom. I've got one of the older ones when they first came out. It's not the Ranch Rifle. Little bit of differences between the two but none the less still a good little rifle. Whatcha gonna be shootin with it anyway?

Aimus

Nothing in particular. Home security mainly, with my Glock 19.

That would make a good home security rifle. It's short so it would be easily moved around to clear corners and behind doors in a house. Some folks don't like the accuracy they get from the Ruger Mini-14 Ranch Rifle at long ranges but it's a minute of deer accurate rifle. I figure they are comparing the Ruger Mini-14 Ranch Rifle to the AR platform rifles about the accuracy. The older one I have has taken many and a many deer and groundhogs and that was done with it's open peep sights as a scope can not be mounted on the older style Ruger Mini-14 I have. Of coarse I could have gotten lucky and bought the only accurate Ruger Mini-14 that was sold back then. It groups really well at 100 yards. As I said I bought mine new when they first came out and I have shot every kind of ammo that has been sold through mine, including the steel cased ammo, and it has never offered to even burp like it was going to jam on me. Ammo is cheap for it and you can get good high capacity magazines for it also. There's quite a few gadgets you can get for the Ruger Mini-14 Ranch Rifle to suit your needs. The Ruger Mini-14 also has one of the best warranties in firearms. Well. really Ruger doesn't give a warranty with their firearms but if something comes up that causes a problem with it that's not owner made or pure abuse, Ruger will fix it or send you a new rifle in it's place. And Ruger pays the shipping charge to send the fixed or new rifle to you. That's hard to beat. One thing you may not like about it is it is VERY LOUD when fired, or at least the one I have is. I have the Mini-14 and a AR-15 and the Mini-14 will drowned out the sound of the AR when they are shot at the same time. Don't know why but it is loud so be sure to wear some ear plugs when you shoot one. I think you would like one.

Aimus

TJ, I tried really hard to like the Ruger Mini-14 variations. Aesthetically they had everything, usually worked well (I had one magazine that was kinda iffy), but none of the ones I had would reliably group under 4-5" at 100 yards. That might have been acceptable back in the day when an AR cost 4x as much, but the costs are comparable now. Ruger and Ruger aficionados claim they've got the bugs worked out and group sizes are cut in half, but I figure I spent enough money trying to get an accurate Mini-14, I don't need to waste any more money on it.

My last Ranch Rifle (I think it was the last one, might have been the one before--maybe 10 years ago) put the first ten rounds in 9" from a bench. One of the other shooters laughed, so I borrowed his M1A, tightened up the sling, and put 20 rounds in about 2.5". No more laughing, but I should have waited: I might have been able to sell the rifle to someone there who thought they could get it to shoot!

Ruger rifles have an excellent reputation for reliability and handling well (except trigger pull), but not-so-much for accuracy. My current toy is a Ruger 77 (tang safety) in 7x57; I'm hoping that I'll be able to find a load that will group under 2" at 100 yards. But it sure does look nice. . . .

Thanks guys. I don't currently own a long gun, only two hand guns. Since I'm not planning on doing any sniping or hunting I don't need a long range gun, just something with a little bit of guts. I've got a bad right shoulder, tore the rotator cup a long time ago and never had it repaired and it still gives me trouble at times, so I don't want something that's going to bring tears to my eyes each time I pull the trigger. The AK's are plentiful and cheap but I don't think that I could stand the recoil of the 7.62 anymore. I like the looks or the Mini-14 and I like the size. Didn't see any thing too negetive about it, so it may be the one that I shop. Thanks again.

Sounds like you've got a well-thought rationale for getting a Mini-14! You might try finding an older one, and using their known accuracy problems as a bargaining point--while I don't think Ruger has ever acknowledged it, they have made a point of talking up the improved accuracy in the latest versions.

If you find a good deal on one, don't rule out a good M1 Carbine. For your purposes, don't think of it as a 30 carbine, but (when loaded with 110 grain HPs) as the equivalent of a 30 round .357 with hot loads. Fewer problems with over-penetration in an urban environment, and the recoil is even less than the Mini-14. The carbine was the first long gun I shot after having my neck customized back in 2002, and for about a year it was the only centerfire long-gun my doctor would approve.

coffeecup wrote:Ruger rifles have an excellent reputation for reliability and handling well (except trigger pull), but not-so-much for accuracy.

CC I agree with you about most Rugers trigger pull but, I have to respectfully disagree with you about Ruger not having a reputation for accuracy. I have a Ruger model 10/22 rifle that will drive roofing tacks at 100 yards if the shooter will do their part. The rifle is so accurate that it gets boring shooting it because there is no missing or hard shots. I have had the same results with other Ruger model 10/22 rifles. I also have a Ruger model 77 MK II in 300 Win. Mag. caliber that will shoot a 1 1/2 inch grouping at 350 yards any day of the week. There's a good friend of mine that has a Ruger model 77 MK II in .270 Win. caliber that will shoot a tighter group at 350 yards than my 300 Win. Mag. Ruger will. I would like to fire both of the Ruger model 77 MK II rifles on a longer range but the 350 yard range is the longest range we have that is within a hour and a half drive for us. I do have to say that the triggers in both model 77 MK II rifles are not factory Ruger triggers. I replaced them with a lighter glass breaking aftermarket trigger kit. The original Ruger triggers that were in them were horrible. Ruger purposely puts those awful triggers in their firearms to keep the ambulance chasing lawyers away from them. The Ruger MK I, MK II, and MK III pistols in .22 LR. caliber are very accurate Ruger firearms. Most of them will shoot more accurate than a man can hold them and shoot them. I hunt squirrel in late season when all the leaves are off with a Ruger MK III in .22 LR. caliber and I've made head shots out to 65 yards with the MK III pistol. The S&W K-22 target revolver in .22 LR. caliber I have will not shoot as good as the Ruger MK III pistil I have, at paper punching target shooting or hunting game ,and they have almost the same length barrels. I'm not saying the S&W doesn't shoot good because it does, it just doesn't shoot as good as the Ruger MK III pistol. There are some Ruger models that I don't like because they don't shoot well but I have to give Ruger the credit they deserve, they do make some very fine shooting firearms. Firearms are like vehicle brands, there's good and bad in all of them.

Aimus

Aimus Moses wrote:the Ruger Mini-14 Ranch Rifle
One thing you may not like about it is it is VERY LOUD when fired, or at least the one I have is. I have the Mini-14 and a AR-15 and the Mini-14 will drowned out the sound of the AR when they are shot at the same time. Don't know why but it is loud so be sure to wear some ear plugs when you shoot one. I think you would like one.
Aimus

Interesting. I was considering a Mini for 'animal population control'. Thought the light caliber would be a little quieter than my Rem -06. Thanks for the info.

And I keep eyeballin' leveraction 30/30's too. Don't know why, I've never even shot one

Sorry to hijack your thread Mr. TJ......

Gotta agree I had a Mini 14 back in mid 90's wouldn't hold a group no matter what I run through it I was very disapointed with it--home protection long gun--otta just get you a shot gun they make alot just for that purpose and nothing else

All right, starting over. T.J. I have a Mini-14 Ranch and Aimus is right, they're LOUD. In a crowd of other calibers, you can tell when they bark.

As for the AK, IMO the 7.62x39 doesn't kick much at all. Of course I don't have your shoulder and I haven't shot my SKS in a long time. If I lived closer you could shoot both and form a first hand opinion.

My Opinion -- The best home defense weapon around is a 12 ga. loaded with #1 buck. You don't have to shoulder it to get what your aiming at. Minimal penetration and there's nothing like the shuckin' of a 12 ga. pump in the middle of the night to make an intruder go all slip and slide on his own excrement (wait could that be it. I said the 'S' word in my original post)

Another one to consider for home defense would be The Judge by Taurus. Five shot revolver in .410/.45 LC. Load it up with a couple of buck shot .410s to lead the parade and the rest .45 LC. Pull the trigger and keep pulling it until it goes 'click'. "Your honor, I shot him five times because it's a five shot revolver."

If you find a good deal on one, don't rule out a good M1 Carbine.

Good suggestion. I have one for home defense and fun shooting. Good accuracy within its limits. Mine was made just a month before the end of WWII.