You know you’re in trouble when the gun shop starts calling you. I had told the guy at the gun shop that I was always interested in any HiPowers that came in. And, today, I got the call.

Its an early MkIII (forged frame) in the box, came with six mags, mag pouch, and a Lula mag loader. Although I carry a Glock, and have had some interesting times with them, the HiPower is my favorite 9mm pistol.

Not content to spend money on just one gun, I made the mistake of asking about another gun that I’d had my eye on. A ‘used’ Angstadt 9mm AR pistol. Used is in quotes because even if a gun is 100% unfired and NIB, if it came from someone selling it and not from the factory/distributor it is considered used. I don’t make the rules.

I already have an Angstadt carbine and think it is an outstanding gun. Unlike many 9mm carbines that take Glock mags, this one locks back on empty. Technically a pistol with an arm brace (eyeroll) this little compact guy is handy. Doesnt do anything my Uzi or MP5s dont do, but it does it with compatability with my Glock mags/drums.

It was supposed to be a simple trip to the gun store while on my lunch break to pick up a HiPower and this is what happens…..

(Unless youre Ilhan Omar, in which case this post is “.45-70 bear gun eleven”)

After I mentioned that I had upgraded the sights on my .45-70 BruinBuster I got a couple emails from people asking for more details on the sights. Okay. Basically, its a protected rear sight with a high-visibility front sight.

Very nicely machined and finished. The colored front sight (or front sight of color, I suppose) is easy to pick up quickly and accurately. Workmanship is excellent. They also included the necessary allen wrench and a little tube of blue threadlocker.

The natural comparison of these sights is to the Skinner Sights. I have a set of Skinner SIghts on my .30-30. They are both very, very similar. I will say, the XS seems a bit more refined and finished. Really, its a six-of-one-half-dozen-of-the-other situation. I ordered the XS sights and received a quick confirmation and tracking number, an email query to Skinner has, so far, gone unaswered. Ok, guess I’ll spend my money with the people that were responsive.

Still gotta pick a bullet, load up some ammo, and head to the range. But not this weekend…its a three day holiday weekend and I plan on being up in the hills for a chunk of it.

So I acquired a Marlin .45-70 for keeping the bears in their lane up at the Beta Site. A nice enough gun, but I need to tweak it a bit here and there. It was shooting quite low so I was going to swap out the front sight blade for something a bit shorter in order to bring things up a bit. In the process of trying to tap out a very stubborn front sight insert I managed to experience mission creep where the tapping became hammering and…broke the front sight ramp.

Alright, since the whole front sight issue is now moot, theres no reason not to replace the front sight assembly with something a bit more purposeful. My first email wasto  the Skinner Sights people. And their failure to respond to my query kinda queered me on getting their sights. Alternate choice? XS sights. Threw a set of these on the shoulder-cannon and they seem to be ideal.

Thus far, mods are new sights and a safety delete. Need to pick up a few spare parts (springs mostly). Might add a touch of engraving for giggles.

What I really need to do is sit down at the reloading bench and decide on what the load for this thing is going to be. I like the idea of a 300 gr bullet around 1800 fps. If you’d feel safe with a 300 gr. .44 at 1200 fps then this would make sense. I could go to the 400 gr., which is probably what most would recommend, but I think the lighter 300 gr. bullet will kick less and allow fast followups while still not really giving up much in terminal performance. But…I’ll experiment. I’ve some gas-checked hard cast bullets that might be just the ticket.

Now I just have to find the time to park my butt in front of the reloading bench and the shooting bench.

Years ago I bought a CZ Scorpion Evo. I shot it a bit, and its a fine little 9mm,  but it’s real value is as a SBR…not as a pistol.

Since tax stamps for SBR’s are $0 these days, it seemed to make sense to just go ahead and do the paperwork. And,,the approval came back today.

You guys may recall that back in December I came into a deal for a TC Encore with a 7mm Rem. Mag. barrel and a .50 muzzleloader barrel. Neither barrel did much for me, but they came with scopes I wanted and I figured I’d eventually trade into some barrels that were more useful for me.

And…that happened. Traded out for two barrels – a 26″ .308 Win. barrel which will cover pretty much everything in Montana and fits into my logistics table. The other barrel was a 16″ .357 Magnum threaded barrel. Well, it’s threaded so….lets order up a tri-lug mount, thread it on there, and see what fits.

My Dead Air Mojave9 goes right on the end. And, before you ask, yes, a 9mm suppressor will work with a .357″ caliber cartridge like the .38/357. Some heavy (200 gr.) subsonic .357 loads should make this a very interesting gun. Most .38 Special is natively subsonic, so just dropping .38 Special in there, along with this suppressor, should result in a rather quiet package.

Purpose? Well, let’s ignore the obvious and dark answer. Beyond that, it’d be a dandy little number for quietly popping deer or smaller game at less than a hundred yards. (Although I have a couple .300 Blackout bolt guns that will also do that.) It’d make a nice combo package with one of my GP-100’s out in the woods.

Once I got it dialed in (4x Leupold) I started shooting for group. I only shot on paper at fifty yards because the drop at a hundred is gonna be pretty interesting. But, three-shot groups that you could cover with a half-dollar were the norm. Threw on the suppressor and shot some .38 Specials and managed a cloverleaf. So, fun gun indeed.

Well, since there’s no $200 tax to ‘make’ and SBR these days (Form 1) I took an hour, a ton of photos, and sent in the eForm1 to SBR one of my PTR MP5 clones, Ruger PC Charger 9mm, Group Industries Uzi, and my Action Arms Uzi. Because.

As much as I despise ATFE with a hatred that could fuel a large city, I have to very reluctantly admit that those fundaments did a fairly decent job with their website. It was about 10-15 minutes per gun, including taking pictures, but all in all it was relatively simple. Because of my FFL/SOT I didnt have to do the fingerprinting, CLEO sign off, or any of that stuff. Last time I did this was a few years ago and I think it took about 49 days to get the paperwork back. We shall see how  it goes this time.

“How do you accidentally buy a gun?” is a perfectly reasonable question. I’ve mentioned it here.

Made the mistake of walking into a gun sho pon my lunch hour yesterday. The guy behind the counter is starting to recognize me because a) I have an SOT which means he’s more likely to make a sale to me than to someone who has to go get fingerprinted and photographed, and b) I almost exclusively buy used guns, which they often have on consignment at a rather big bite.

We get to talking and he’s telling me of some full-autos he has for sale, including a freakin’ Lewis gun and an FNC. He also has some MAC-10 type full -autos. I told him that while the only thing there that might interest me is the FNC (but not at over $20k) but what I’m really after is a full-auto Uzi. After talking machineguns for a few minutes I asked what he had I might like. Interestingly he pulled out a Browning copy of a Winchester High Wall in .45-70 with a Badger barrel on it. Beautiful gun but not really practical for me. A Belgian Mauser? Meh. Ruger PC Carbine? AH…lemme see that.

Just a plain Jane Ruger PC carbine in the crappy factory stock. It was only a few dollars less than what I could order  a new one for. I need a better deal than that, Is it a consignment piece, I ask? It was. So I said call the guy and tell him I’m a buyer at [20% less than what its priced at}, I figured the guy would say no and that would be that.

TL,DR: I just ordered an ODG Magpul Backpacker stock for my new Ruger 9mm carbine.