steve1

I think the term "Sky God" later took on the meaning of a jumper who thought his manure didn't stink. I don't think "Sky God" had that meaning in the beginning. Back in the early 70's a "Sky God" was somebody you really looked up to in the sport. This was someone whose abilities far exceeded your own. One of the skygod's I met, back in the day, was Jerry Bird. Ray Cottingham was another. I guess I need to be careful how I use that term. I mean it in a good sense....

. Hi Steve No big deal but, crew chiefs didn't fly we were called loadmasters, Oh hell, I knew it was something like that. Some days I forget my own name.....I used to look at loadmasters and ask myself why I didn't join that branch. They sure looked a lot happier than the grunts I hung out with....

We all have prejudices that we carry around with us, whether we realize it or not. So, maybe this is something we all need to work on. I meet people all the time who hate most white people. And then they say they hate racists. I don't get it....

Thanks Dave. Those flip up sights sound like a must for a red dot scope...(just in case those batteries fail). Somebody said you can shoot out to 300 yards with a red dot. So, I guess you're not limited to close range only with that kind of scope. I've always liked a sling for hunting purposes. On a couple rifles I have the old fashioned military sling. It has a loop in the middle that I can slip my arm through. I then take a wrap and have my left hand tight agains the front sling stud. It make a very accurate platform to shoot from. It's an old target shooters trick. The only problem with my slings are that I sometimes get in the habit of using them too much. I remember once missing my chance at an elk. There the elk was right in front of me. Instead of being ready, my rifle was hanging on my shoulder. By the time I got the rifle off, the elk was gone. It was a good lesson, on what not to do next time. I've seen some soldiers using their sling, while having their weapon in front of them. That way they would be ready. I've never tried that. Maybe it's something I need to learn. I was wondering on what barrel length to go with. Shorter barrels are handy, but I'm wondering about how much velocity you might lose, with say an 18 inch barrel versus a 22 inch barrel. I'd probably be using mostly factory ammo.

I don't know what year the first NSCR was built in Montana. I'll bet Fred Sands knows. We planned to build one in 75 or so. We ordered up a twin beech from Johnson's Flying service. All the better jumpers were there. B.J. Worth, John Ward, Maxson, Nardi, John Andrus, Bob Smith, Jack Wenger, Paul Juel, and a few others that I can't recall. I felt lucky to be asked along. We didn't know about glow sticks then. Everyone had some kind of flash light rigged up. About then everyone started to notice how black it was. There was almost no moon or stars. It was hard to even see your hand in front of you face. Nobody wanted to call it off. I'm glad somebody had guts enough to say, this is crazy. I quit jumping in 76, for a very long time. Maybe somebody else can fill in some history here. For me having NSCR patch was an elusive dream. That was big doings back in the early 70's. I never earned a 16 way patch either. I don't think anyone in Montana had those prior to 76. It seemed like all the sky gods lived in Elsinore back then. Later it was the Gulch. This was a time of big change in skydiving, including gear.

When jumping in the army they used to scare the hell out of everyone, when they said they would foam down the run way, and land with you in tow. And yes, they would cut you away if you put one or both hands on your helmet, and showed that you were responsive. It would be interesting to know if this was ever done. I used to jumpmaster army jumpers, but never had a knife. I imagine the airforce crew chief had one.

I used to like using a peep sight. I hadn't used one much until I was in the military. About all I've used for the last forty years are scopes. I tried doing some shooting earlier this year, with a new rifle, and iron sights. I soon realized that my eyes aren't what they used to be. I had a heck of a time lining up those sights. In low light you can't see them at all, even with good eyes. That red dot scope sounds good, but I hate the thought of a gun that needs batteries. My son in law mentioned flip up sights. Are they worth having? Do they flip up above the red dot scope? I've got a 3x9 Leupold on most of my hunting rifles. I might just mount one of these and call it good. Do you need a flat top for that. I would imagine that the scope would have to sit very high above the barrel, because of the high rear stock. I thought I was about done buying rifles and pistols. I should know by now that guns are a lot like eating potatoe chips. Next trip to town I'm going to look at some pistols and AR-15's.

A friend of mine used to reload military 30/06 brass. The biggest difference was the primer pocket. It took a special tool to chamfer the rim of that primer pocket. Then you could seat regular primers. It sounds like there is a difference in case wall thickness. Yes, that could make a difference in pressures. The amount of leade often varies between guns. Factory ammo has a bullet that doesn't stick out very far, so it will work in all. My Remington bolt rifles have a very long leade. My only Winchester model 70 has a fairly short leade. Thanks for the info. on this. I was wondering what the triggers are like on most, out of the box AR-15's. I'm getting to where I hate a rifle that doesn't have a decent trigger. Some are just too heavy. Others have a lot of creep, etc.

Pardon my ignorance, but I thought 5.56 was exactly the same cartridge as 223....I bought some factory 223 for my military issue M-16, back in the day. This was when I was still in the National Guard. It fired fine, even on full auto. This was about 35 years ago. So, unless things have changed, aren't they the same cartridge? Why would one work in a gun and not the other?

This is kind of a bizzar story, but true. I knew a guy that was a cop. He was also an avid hunter. When he was on patrol he often drove county roads, looking for deer. Then he got the idea of sitting in a tree stand, while on duty, with his police ear phone in. This was quiet and wouldn't scare the deer. He was trying to get a big buck with his bow....If he had a call he would quickly get back into uniform and try to get to the crime scene in time. So, one day there's a burglar in a farmer's house. The farmer called the police and nobody shows up. He has the guy at gun point. They waited and waited for this ding dong cop to show up....Finally the farmer decides to tie the guy up. An hour or more, later this cop finally shows up. The burglar is hog tied in their living room. This cop finally quit and moved on to greener pastures. I'm surprised this poor farmer wasn't charged with something....

Special Forces troops often work in other places that people never hear about. During the Vietnam war, there were operations going on in many other countries in South East Asia. Often times Special Forces work in an advisory capacity. Other times in direct action. It doesn't surprise me that there are 4 African countries where operations are going on now....

I always figured that I wanted to try base jumping. Most of my younger years involved adrenaline. Looking back I figure that I'm lucky to still be here. I've got a friend with thousands of jumps and hundreds of base jumps. B.J. Worth filmed one of his base jumps...(skimming close to the ground). He said about the only thing he hasn't done is die. Adrenaline may not be a good thing. Sometimes it's hard to turn it off, and live a different life.... So, maybe that is what I'm trying to do now. My wife and I may see our first grandchild this year. I want to be around for that. I do miss skydiving, rodeoing, and other dangerous times....but I'm trying to quit. I had a good friend killed in a plane crash yesterday. A low pass followed by a steep climb, with an overloaded aircraft, didn't work. The plane crashed in front of their farm house. Times like that make you re-evaluate what is important in life.....

My son in law is having an AR-15 put together. I never thought I'd want a gun like this, but I am seriously thinking of getting one too. I don't know much about the red dot sights. I've heard they give off a red glow. Could a perp aim at that red glow and then shoot at that? I'm also wondering about barrel length. A 16 incher would be handy, but wouldn't you be giving up quite a bit of velocity. I'd like to shoot longer ranges too. What barrel length would you recommend for that?

Wolfriverjoe, I'm down to only one 22 pistol. I had another High Standard auto, that I gave to me oldest daughter. Now that was a good shooting pistol with a great trigger! I've given a lot of guns to my two daughters (including four pistols). It's good that the next generation have a gun that once belonged to old gramps. The one 22 pistol that I still have is a Taurus nine shot revolver. It shoots great. The trigger isn't bad either. They definitely are cheaper to shoot than a bigger pistol.

A bat might kill you just as dead...but I'd pick a firearm for self defense. It could be a better tool in most case scenarios. Is this a trick question....I haven't been reading the other thread?

Right handed shooter? And the grouping has nothing to do with the sights. DaVinci, How can you make such a grand statement as this. Surely you must know that there is more to shooting than just trigger control. Of course trigger control is important, but it is not the only factor afftecting accuracy. I'd like to know how you can be so certain that we are either pulling the gun to the left or slapping the trigger....Please explain!

This is way too deep for me to figure out....Is this a trick question or something? I don't get it! Are you talking in tongues?

If the group is left, the trigger finger is not deep enough on the trigger, if right the trigger finger is too deep on the trigger (reversed for Left handed shooters). If the group is big but consistent it is a matter of refining technique. Shooting, like Skydiving, is best not learned on the web in a forum. Matt I think you are assuming a lot in your statements. Like I said, I've shot pistols for fifty years, not just talk about them. My daughter grouped to the left also. The same big group. Just because a group is big, and to the left, doesn't automatically mean trigger control....With this pistol the sights are not properly aligned with the barrel. My other daughter has virtually the same pistol, but a different manufacturer. The groups were small and on target at closer to twenty yards.

Having the bullet almost touch the rifling makes a huge difference in accuracy, in my opinion. I've tried most of the reloading tricks to improve accuracy. This is one to remember.... This is hard to do with all guns though. My one and only Winchester model 70 has a fairly short throat. The bullets fit fine in that magazine. My Remington 700's have a really long throat. That means not having enough bullet left in the case neck, when I use 130 grain bullets in 270. Sometimes the bullet will come out and even stick in the chamber of your rifle, if you don't crimp the bullet. I think I told that story earlier. I had made a successful stalk on a buck antelope. I openned the bolt to make sure the bullet was still chambered. Luckily I pointed the gun up when I did that. There was the cartridge case...but no bullet on the end. Luckily all the powder didn't spill all over. The bullet was stuck in the chamber. I closed the bolt to reseat that bullet. Then I shot the antelope. After that I made sure that I put a crimp on those bullets. That eliminated the loose fit on those bullets. Another problem that we talked about earlier, John is that some rifles have too short of a magazine to load your bullets out there, (long enough to almost touch the rifling). I just bought a Savage 99 rifle. There is no way I can load the bullets long, unless I feed them one at a time into the chamber. Another time I reloaded a box of ammo too long. There was no way I could close the bolt on those rounds. This could have ruined my hunt that day. Luckily I found some other rounds that would fit. For hunting rounds I'll load them a little deeper. I figure if I have a dirty round or something, I want it to still chamber okay. Loading the bullets to where they almost touch the rifling, is one reloading trick that really makes a difference. I usually use a magic marker to blacken the bullet, and then watch for signs of the bullet touching the rifling.... I know what many are thinking....how accurate do you really need a rifle. Many shoot a rifle that groups three or four inches at 100 yards. Most of my rifles will shoot close to 3/4 of an inch at that range. At four or five hundred yards this adds up to a big difference. I rarely shoot at that range, because I don't want to wound something, but If I have to, I can usually make that kind of shot. It all adds up to confidence in your shooting ability and rifle.

I used to leave space between my resizing die and the plunger. I heard the case would fit the chamber better that way, as long as you used the brass in the same rifle. It was supposed to help accuracy, somewhat. After a couple firings it got really hard to close the bolt. I now full length resize all my cases. I just got tired of having to force the bolt closed...I didn't notice any great improvement in accuracy, but some people swear by neck sizing only.

I'm learning a lot from you guys. That was an interesting read on AR optics. That's something, how you can mount another sighting system, on your rifle. By canting your gun slightly you can use this other set of sights or optics. Proper training could make all this work effectively. Things are getting kind of complicated these days Keeping things simple is important though.... Particularly when buck fever sets in....

I'll bet ejection could introduce some problems. I remember in the army they wouldn't let us shoot with our hoods on. Left hand shooters sometimes caught hot brass inside their hoods. Then they would forget which direction was down range, and things could get dangerous. I never saw that happen, but I suppose it could. If you were on your left side, the brass might go up, and come back down on you. It's been about 40 years since I've shot an M-16. An AR-15 may be something I need to put on my wish list. There's so many different varieties and add-ons now days, that it might be hard to pick which one to get. I noticed all the shooters on this show, did have some type of new fangled scope, (probably with a red dot). I don't know a thing about that type of scope. I see where most soldiers are using that same scope, in the middle east, on their m-16's. It would probably beat a peep sight, particularly in low light situations....

I was watching Gun Talk on the boob tube the other day. It showed some experienced police and swat troopers training with their AR-15's. It showed them taking cover behind a car, and returning fire by shooting underneath it. They were shooting by laying on their side, and shooting with their rifles side-ways. I've never seen this done before. I was always taught to keep the rifle straight up and down for best accuracy. The path of your bullet will rise up to cross your line of sight at around 25 yards. The bullet will rise up above your line of sight to reach a mid-range trajectory. Then the bullet will begin dropping due to gravity. So, this has me wondering....will this sideways shooting only work at fairly close range? I would imagine you would have to aim left or right (depending on which way the rifle is tilted) to hit at longer ranges. Has anyone ever experimented with this kind of shooting. It looks interesting...but possibly too complicated for my simple brain.

Thanks Airtwardo. I'm anxious to try out some pistols at that new range in Billings. The wife is even looking forward to it. I'll keep your advice in mind...

That sure sounds like a headspace problem to me. I've only had a separation like that once. I knew something was wrong because all the hot gases came back in my face. Then the bolt was almost frozen shut....My problem was that the load was way too hot....I've never had a separation several times in a row. It might be good to have a gunsmith look at that chamber. Were those brass reloaded very many times? I know different rifles have different pressures. Do you think this load was too hot in that other rifle? I had a 25/06 Ackley barrel on a gun. I used to fire form regular 25/06 brass in it. The shoulder was all different. That worked okay. I know you can lengthen the length of your resizing die to possibly fireform your brass. If the headspace is too long... this may lead to further seperations. I wonder what it would cost to have that chamber rebored to something bigger....if headspace is the problem.