Memorial Day Range Trip

So for the morning of Memorial Day I headed to the range.

Met up with Tosh and his buddy Timo.  A good time was then had by all.

Had the Turknelli out and it ran like a top - even ran the lower powered 7.5 birdshot and the Federal Flite Control 8 pellet 00 Buck that it had choked on during its first time out.

 

In short no failures, fed everything it was given and seems good to go, and cleaning the pistons fixed the issue nicely.  

When I got it home, I took it down to clean it and  there was some solid carbon buildup on the pistons yet again, but not nearly as much this time, so hopefully the gunk is working itself out. Will need to keep an eye on it and I expect to make it a regular bit of maintenance to clean the pistons after each use.

Shot the Tavor as well out to 100 yards (longest range they've got at the range sadly)  and no issues. Did decided to give it a cleaning as it had not been cleaned in quite some time, and I think it appreciated it. Got a lot of build up out of it and it is nice and clean now.

Also shot my Glock and IWI Masada.  Definitely need to practice more as my draw is pretty slow and could use some work.  Accuracy with both is good and I'm hitting an A Zone at 7 yards on Bill Drills pretty consistently, but need to speed it up, especially the draw.

This means some regular dry fire practice which I keep telling myself I'm going to do, so might as well do it.  From now on it's 15 minutes of leg stretches for the hip rehab followed by 15 minutes of dry-fire a day.  Let's see if I can stick to this.

Sunday Quarantine Range Trip

Nothing like going out for a social distancing outdoor activity.

Leah and I drove to the range, and the unofficial highway limit seems to still be set at 90 mph, with permissible increases to 100 mph. which is nice. I certainly burned any carbon deposits out for the engine on this trip.

With the unofficial speed limits being what they were, and the very light traffic, we made it to the range in exceptionally good time and had it pretty much to ourselves including our favorite bay with the plate rack in it.

I mainly shot the IWI Masada, on its first range trip after its 2,000 round cleaning. No failures and another 250 trouble free rounds through it all done drawing from concealment for practice including 5x5 drills and a dot torture drill.

Leah shot the M&P .22 Compact, the Beretta 81, the IWI Masada, and the IWI Jericho 941.

The IWI Jericho 941 is an Israeli Police surplus that I acquired just prior to the Wuhan Flu shutdown.

A CZ clone with some Israeli enhancements, the 16-shot, all steel, frame 9mm fits the hand extremely well and shoots really nicely with no real felt recoil compared to polymer 9mms of similar size.

When I received it, it clearly had signs of use and character, including sand under the grip panels, and the name of the officer that had been issued it taped on the slide and it has the Israeli Police Star on the right side of the frame:

The Israeli Police 941s are all single action and can be carried cocked and locked. They replaced the Browning Hi Power in Israeli police service and have since been replaced by the Glock 17 and 19.

Very nice and accurate pistol, with a very nice trigger, albeit heavy compared to the polymer wonder nines that replaced it. A nice piece of shooting history.

IWI Masada Rounds 1701-2000

It's a beautiful sunny day today, in contrast to the chilling, windy and overcast day we had yesterday. So to the range I went.

One nice thing about the Corona-pocalypse - the speed limit on all highways has been unofficially raised to 90 mph and I got to and from the range in excellent time. I'm not saying my car was happily going 100 mph at times, but merely suggesting such was comfortably possible and was only keeping up with the flow of very sparse traffic.

I fired 250 rounds of Federal Black Pack 9mm and 50 rounds of Winchester 147 gr hollowpoints through the IWI Masada today.

Zero failures or hesitations.

I shot the plate rack, clearing them regularly in under 6 seconds from a holster, which still can stand some improvement.

Then to do some more finely tuned practice I shot some 5x5 drills - 5 yards, 5 rounds, under five seconds.

I was pretty happy doing it consistently under four seconds with all hits, with the best time being 3.59, which of course I fasiled to take a picture of. Still, I think I can, with more practice, do it faster.

The Trijicon SRO definitely makes a difference. Shooting the 5x5 drill with the Walther P99 without the dot, I was consistently slower, and typically at least a full second slower.

I then shot Dot Torture with the Masada and it was wonderfully humbling. In short I need more practice. Almost shot a perfectly clean run and had one shot just outside the circle to ruin it. Drat. Dot Torture did help me really dial in the SRO however, as shooting a plate is a lot larger target than the dots on dot torture and I had the dot set before just low enough to miss until it was dialed in.

That's 2,000 rounds through the IWI Masada with no cleaning or lubrication since beginning the test. Zero failures of any sort. I'd say its a nice, ergonomic, and suitably reliable firearm for carry.

IWI Masada Rounds 1401-1700

Went to the outdoor range with Leah today. Traffic was pretty light and while there were a couple other people at the range facility, we had a range all to ourselves. Our favorite one with the steel plate rack, chickies and target stands.

It was 36 degrees so jackets and gloves were still needed.

Since we were at the outdoor range I could exercise the Masada a bit more than just from a stall as at the indoor range.

I used a new Vedder holster as Vedder carries models for the Masada and with the chosen optics cut it fit like a glove.

Good for both AWB and IWB carry, the holster was very comfortable, retained the pistol well and fit perfectly. I'm rather happy with it and it was made and shipped quickly, came with a nice pouch for storage, and Vedder certainkly makes a darn good line of holsters.

I did draws from the holster and cleaned the plate rack with the Masada.

A lack of practice certainly showed,but in time from concealment (under a sweatshirt with a winter jacket also getting pushed out of the way) I was getting consistent sub-six second runs with a clean shoot of all 6 plates. I need more practice to get to where I was but not bad. I also shot some poppers and chuckies and had a good time shooting it. Leah also liked shooting it with the SRO.

250 rounds of Federal Black Back 9mm and 50 rounds of Winchester 147 gr hollow point all ran with no failures of any kind.

That's 1,700 rounds so far through the IWI Masada with zero failures of any kind.

IWI Masada Rounds 1151-1400

So after voting I felt a need to be clean.

What better way to wash off the funk of participating in a Democrat primary than with cleansing fire?

To the range I went.

It would be a quick visit as much to do today, so I had much to shoot and all of a half hour to do it in.

The results of first 17 round magazine fired rapidly at 50 feet

Between the Masada's good ergonomics, nice trigger, and the Trijicon SRO, it's darn hard to miss the target.

I had recently purchased some more IWI Masada magazines at Gunbuyer.com as they seem to have the best price on them at under $26 a pop, which is not bad for a quality steel magazine.

I had 8 loaded mags with me that I emptied in very short order.

Again, visible smoke was seen rising from the barrel after shooting all 8 fully loaded mags in quick succession.

I then reloaded the magazines and kept firing - two handed, weak hand only, and strong hand only.

I also did presentations from low ready as the local range does not allow holsters - I need to go to the outdoor range to get that working, which will be soon now the weather is clearing up. The SRO's dot is rather quick to pickup and firing failure to stop drills rapidly with good hits was very easy.

The Masada and the SRO are a very effective combination.

I fired all 250 rounds from that Federal 9mm Black Pack through the Masada rather quickly and there were no failures of any kind to report, the Masada just kept chugging right along even as it looked like this:

It's certainly getting dirty, but that hasn't impaired the functionality in any way, and its still very enjoyable to shoot.

IWI Masada Rounds 851-1150

First range trip of the year finally took place tonight.

Due to the snow, timing etc, I went to the nearby indoor range where the term Range Nazi is not overused.

On the upside it's really close, warm and I could get some shooting in.

I fired 250 rounds of Federal Black Pack 115 gr 9mm Through the Masada, followed by 50 Rounds of M882 ball ammo, also made by Federal.

No failures of any kind to report, even when shooting a lot of ammo through it very rapidly. I was shooting rapidly enough that smoke was visibly rising off the barrel after putting it down to reload the 4 magazines I had just run through it.

No complaints from the Masada though, it just kept on chugging along.

After 1,150 rounds, it's starting to look a tad dirty around the muzzle.

The Trijicon SRO is fantastic - It's very quick to pickup the dot and failure to stop drills are a snap with it. Very easy to quickly acquire the target and hit it precisely. The SRO kept its zero perfectly and is a very impressive and useful addition to a pistol.

Now more than halfway through the 2,000 rounds, and this pistol is seriously growing on me.

IWI Masada Rounds 751-850

Today after work I met up with the members of my Synagogue's "Sports Club" at the range.

Since the membership of the Synagogue tends to veer leftwards, we don't dare call it a shooting club, some congregants might get the vapors.

We had a good turn out tonight, actually getting a full minyan at the range.

Among those were a couple gentlemen who hadn't shot before.

I got to coach them and used the M&P Compact .22 with the silencer on it as a teaching tool.

Nice, quiet, and easy to shoot, it's a very easy way to get new shooters to learn how to shoot without really loud bangs and recoil to distract them. Big smiles resulted.

They did great and I had them try out the Masada as well. Even more smiles.

They both enjoyed it and did quite well, as the Masada is now even easier to shoot and accurately hit the target.

Since it's the Masada ORP, meaning Optics Ready Pistol, it was time to mount an Optic.

It's a Trijicon SRO and mounting it on to the Masada could not have been easier. Using the included RMR plate and screws that came with the Masada, installation was no fuss, no muss, and simple as it could be and very solid.

Shooting with the SRO is a pleasure - place dot on target location, squeeze trigger, bullet then lands on the spot marked by the dot.

100 rounds of M882 9MM Ball ammo shot with zero failures including being shot by people who have never shot a gun before.

IWI Masada Rounds 501-750

I met up with a client in Davison, about 45 minutes to the north, to talk some business and go over some things he needed, and then do some shooting yesterday. It's good to have clients that are shooting enthusiasts.

We went to Williams Gun Sight Company Range up in Davison.

Yes, Williams, the makers of some exceptional firearms sights, also has one heckuva nice store and range. Great people, amazing selection of shooting stuff, and a first class indoor and outdoor range.

Outdoors, I shot my IWI Tavor SAR, which hadn't been out for awhile. I now have a nice 100 yard zero on it. 60 rounds of 5.56 went through it without a hiccup and the trigger really is darn nice. I've been neglecting to shoot this rifle and need to remedy that, as its very enjoyable to shoot. I also got to shoot my client's SIG .308 AR with a Nightforce optic on it that was a joy to shoot - he's got some nice toys.

At the pistol range I got to try out his Beretta 92X Performance - it's quite a bit heavier than a standard 92FS, noticeably so. But it has quite the nice double action pull and in single action it is downright amazing which makes up for the weight. Its a competition rather than a carry gun so the weight is less of an issue and really sucks up just about all the recoil. He also had an STI 9mm that had perhaps the best 1911 trigger I've ever tried.

He tried the IWI Masada and remarked that it fit his hand well and did have a nice trigger. He shot quite nicely with it and rather liked it.

We proceeded to shoot a variety of ammo through the Masada - 50 rounds of Blazer 147 Grain fmj, 100 Federal 9mm NATO, and 100 of the Remington 115 grain that was indeed comparably quite hot and flashy compared to the other ammo.

The sight adjustment worked, and while it still shoots low, it is centered now.

No failures of any kind in the 250 rounds today.

IWI Masada Rounds 251-500

I went to the range with my friend D yesterday. D brought along his Glock 19 to get some practice in.

I brought along the Masada to get some shooting in. We shot paper targets and steel plates both slow and rapid and had a good time.

200 rounds of Remington 115 grain fired through the Masada by both of us without a hitch.

D also pronounced the Masada trigger to be better than his Glock's trigger, so that's two matching subjective assessments regarding that. He also liked the feel of the Masada more than the Glock. On shooting his Glock, I'd have to agree. I think its got the worst stock Glock trigger I've ever tried, and really puts the crunch in crunchenticker -- seriously. Again, this is another subjective assessment.

Then, I shot 50 rounds of Winchester Ranger 147gr bonded HP through the Masada with zero failures of any kind.

The Masada is definitely shooting low and left for both of us, which is interesting.

It's not a huge amount low and left, but enough to be noticeable especially when shooting for precision. It's less of an issue when you use the dots rather than the top of the front sight to aim, but even with that it's off just enough to miss the X ring even when you place the dot on it and it will hit just under it. You can still knock down steel plates if you aim at the center of them however. I was also able to bounce an ammo box placed on the berm 25 yards away with it nice and consistently by putting the dots on the box. I'm going to try adjusting the rear sight over right to try and correct the leftward issue.

That's 500 rounds through the IWI Masada with zero failures of any kind.

Masada - The Handgun This Time, Not The Fortress

A brief interlude from my Israel trip, but still Israel related, in this case, a new handgun - The IWI Masada.

Named after the Masada Fortress in Israel, It offers a lot of quality and features at an extremely competitive price.

I just purchased this pistol.

A polymer, striker-fired pistol, it features an ambidextrous magazine release and slide release, offering easy right or left hand operation. It comes with two metal 17-round magazines.

It's very comparable in size to the Glock 17.

I find that the trigger is much better than the stock Glock trigger, and it feels to me like a VP9 trigger in terms of smoothness and feel, but that's quite subjective.

It has a removable backstrap with Large, Medium or Small inserts. Again fit and comfort is better for me even with the standard medium back strap than the Glock 17. It feels less blocky and fits the hand much better. Again that's a subjective opinion.

A major advantage of the Masada is it comes optics ready at a price less than even the standard non-MOS mount Glocks.

The firearm comes complete with mounts and mounting screws for the RMR, Venom, Delta Point, and Romeo 01, so you can mount the optic of your choice very easily.

A comparable Glock 17 MOS goes for $599 retail or more at many stores where I've seen it. The IWI Masada comes in around $440 and I've found them for $392 at times. That's a pretty significant price difference for a comparable pistol.

In a market saturated with striker-fired polymer pistols, where Glock dominates, it will be interesting to see how and if the Masada, with all its features and price point, catches on. It seems like a solidly built pistol that can stand on its own merits.

I'll take the Masada to the range shortly to try it out.

NRAAM - IWI

I met up with Daddybear and met Drang for the first time (now added to my blogroll accordingly), and we headed out on the floor.

First stop: IWI.

I had to handle the Tavor X95 SBR.

To say it fits me like a glove is an understatement. It balances very well, comes up very instinctively for me and has a 13 inch barrel in a very compact package smaller than AR pistols with much smaller barrels. The trigger is very nice for a bullpup, not a match trigger by any means, but very off-the-shelf good AR like, and definitely serviceable and smooth.

I will be ordering one forthwith. Unfortunately, I expect the Form 4 processing will be long and tedious but such is the current state of affairs.

Daddybear was also successfully marketed to, and his awesome Irish Woman has granted her conditional approval for him to buy one as well. There was much rejoicing.

Meanwhile, Drang decided that 5.56 was potentially insufficient and handled the Tavor 7 in 7.62 with aplomb.

It's heavier than the standard 5.56 Tavor by a noticeable amount but again it handles very well and is well-balanced.

He also admired the IWI Galil Ace pistol with shoulder brace.

Lots of great products at IWI.

NRAAM: IWI

A trip to NRAAM requires a visit to the IWI booth.

There were Tavor SARs aplenty (the one in the foreground is setup in 9mm):

And Tavor X95s:

The X95 has conversion kits available to easily convert the rifle to 9mm and 300 Blackout, and an SBR kit should be out soon, making a very compact rifle even more compact.

Rebecca, one of IWI's representatives, gave Murph, Mr. Garabaldi, and I an excellent run down on the X95's features and capabilities. The rifle is even handier than the SAR with a magazine release by the firing hand rather than at the butt of the rifle as with the SAR. There are built in rails covered with quick-detach covers, the pistol grip can be reconfigured, and it's a darn nice compact rifle even with a 16.5", 17" (9mm) or 18" barrel options. The stock trigger on the X095 is improved over the SAR and drop in aftermarket trigger packs are avaialble to improve it even more.

Murph definitely needs one, and I'm leaning to pickup an X95 at some point in the future.

NRAAM - IWI Galil Ace

I toured the IWI booth at the NRAAM.

First there are the Galil Ace models.

The Galil Aces seemed very well built, with a lot of nice features. The fit and finish are very impressive and there is no appreciable gap for the operating rod, yet it operates and functions incredibly smoothly for an AK variant. The safeties are ambidextrous and easy to use. There's a nice top rail on the rifles. Flush fit rail covers are nicely fit to the rails on each sides so that they look like regular handguards.

There are pistol models that come with and without the stabilizing arm brace, and you can do the paperwork to SBR them accordingly.

In addition to 7.62x39, there are also Galil Ace models available in 7.62x51 (7.62 mm NATO) caliber.

MSRPs range in the $1,700-1,800 range which make them on the high end for AK variant rifles. In the late 80s, prior to the bans, Galils had MSRP's at about $900. An inflation calculator shows that is $1,820 in today's dollars. Like the Australian AUG, they've stayed rather stable price-wise when taking inflation into account.

IWI At NRAAM

Finding the IWI display at the NRA Annual Meeting proved a bit of a challenge. For some unfathomable reason, most likely an oversight, the IWI display was not listed in either the printed maps nor the NRAAM mobile app.

With perseverance and asking multiple others at the show we finally found it.

First there was a nice assortment of the new Galil Ace rifle and pistols, including a pistol ACE with an arm-brace attached.

The Galil Aces all felt solid and the fit and finish seemed excellent. Much nicer than any other AK variant that I saw on the floor. If you're looking for what will most assuredly be a rock-solid reliable AK-type action rifle, the Galil Ace is for you.

Of course there were Tavors on display.

Most impressive were the Tavors and Micro Tavors that had the happy-fun switch. Sadly I couldn't take any home with me as they're Law-enforcement only sales. There were also full auto Uzis on the same table.

Just holding one of the micro Tavors was happy-making.

Sadly we can't buy them, nor did the lights at the show go out permitting a clean getaway.

But, one of the reps told me a civilian-legal SBR Tavor design is in the works, albeit without the happy-fun switch. Yes, I can see a tax stamp transaction for an SBR-Tavor in my future. These small Tavors simply rocked.