For some reason the date stamp on WordPress is something like six hours ahead. So instead of being stamped 7-7-25, this will be stamped 7-8-25. Anyways, I survived the adventure… We’re gonna need a bigger chain saw. https://2awhiterook.com/thoughts-and-observations-from-the-woods-vol-3/
Yup, we’re gonna need a bigger chain saw. I was able to drag Dad along. We figured we’d cut out some trails and shooting lanes around our deer stands, for a couple hours, then shoot the rest of the day, but nope. They had a terrible storm up there, Friday/Saturday night. The logging road, which leads to where we park in the state forest was jammed. We got out six times to cut up downed trees. At the seventh stop, still maybe just 2/3 of the way into where we park, one massive, colossal pine which had, three trunks sprouting out a dozen feet or so above the base of the tree blocked our path. Each of those trunks was so huge, you couldn’t wrap your arms around one. That and after about the third stop Dad’s 14″ Stihl chainsaw was begging us to break out the AR15 and put it out of its misery. No way around this. And of course the logging road there runs along something of a cliff, steep wooded, almost vertical hill on the left, steep vertical drop on the right down into a deep valley.
And we had the 4wheeler with, on a trailer but were able to back the truck and trailer up far enough to reach an old log skidder trail and back the trailer into and turn around. So much for busting brush around the deer stands.
Onward we went to another part of the state forest, which I shoot at in winter, since this spot has a county road through it, which is plowed. By then both of us were pooped. But we, mostly me, got some shooting in. Dad’s not a shooter, he’s a hunter. I’m the opposite, I hunt because it’s something to do… Though with CWD spreading so fast, I’m not sure how much longer we’re going to deer hunt, just about every county surrounding the one we hunt in is a “CWD Watch Zone” and that means mandatory testing. The idea of shooting a zombie buck isn’t appealing. I wonder how long it’ll be before we just hunt grouse up there? Damn good meat, and beautiful birds, and fun to hunt. But shotguns are boring.
We were shooting on a bald hill… Don’t panic all you gun safety nerds, just listen a moment. We set up on this bald hill, as I usually do when I go there alone and shoot down into a more or less wide and long depression, or gully. The bullets, at most, can fly maybe 200 yards before plowing into the far side of this depression/gully. No safety issues here.
I’ve found out one thing, Dad thinks the Weatherby Vanguard Outfitter, in .223 Rem is the best handling bolt action rifle he’s ever held and shot. I started to get a little worried that it would end up leaving my safe later on at home, and taking up residence in his!
We didn’t shoot it much, the angle of the depression and time of day, made it so we were shooting at the 100 yard target towards, or directly towards the sun, and on that bald hill, guns do NOT cool. That Weatherby really does not like Winchester 62gr FMJ .223. The best five shot group was a hair over two inches from Dad. His others were bad, mine were awful. But that’s always been the case with this case of ammo. When I go to the gun store soon, I’ll look around for some serious .223 target loads. I shot my Daniel Defense DD M4 V7 SLW a little. Don’t ask what that code all means. But we were both too tired from the wood cutting and the heat… Anybody that says Minnesota doesn’t get hot, come here in July… Oh the humidity and the ticks.
Most of the time, I spent working on the Glock 34 Gen 5. And no, I still can’t out shoot Denzel Washington, remember, ‘Man On Fire’ (2004). I was able to FINALLY try the Triple K holster I ordered, that took forever and a day to arrive, it’s a 440SL Lightning Walnut Oil Plain, what ever all that means. It’s a leather-thumb break holster, strong side or cross draw, I kept it strong side. The leather’s not as good as Galco, but it’s formed well, and snug, but not too snug to me a problem for drawing. The snap for the thumb break is pretty low, making it a little tougher to break and even tougher to re-snap. I would’ve liked the holster to be a 1/4″ longer, to give a little more protection to the muzzle. As it is the muzzle’s nearly sticking out the open bottom, and depending on how you move and twist, it does stick out a hair. But it was the only leather thumb break holster I could find for a G34. So it’ll do. And no, I did not want a plastic holster, this kydex stuff and all. Nope, leather’s what I wanted. Ironic, not wanting a plastic holster for a plastic gun.
Now, this place was clear cut a few years back, and lots of discarded logs about. I stood them up, and walked through them, shooting them down with the Glock 34. That’s my favorite kind of shooting and why I like shooting at that place. Dad said I was shooting “too fast”. Hmm, yet somehow I was knocking down the outlaw logs… Now, trying to get some groups on paper at even about seven paces was a no go. Those bullets went everywhere and then some. One mag would shoot so low it’d hit the lower paper plate. The next, so high, I’d have to hold at the bottom edge and they’d barely hit the top half of the plate. Then other mags, just when I’d think I figured out where to hold, after shooting five or six rounds, the rest of the mag would be hit some place or places else.
This wasn’t me having a bad day or my eye problems either. This was the ammo. Lots of jams, failures to feed. I’m not sure if the OAL length was out of spec, or if the bullets themselves were somehow wrong, the cartridges looked fine- no obvious issues, and loading the mags was no issue, and they didn’t feel like they were under powered. The recoil felt like what you’d expect from a full size 9mm pistol. Plus the weak Federal, from a couple weeks ago, hit higher than these. Both 115gr bullets, and the Fed barely cleared the ejection port. This time it was Fiocchi, that I’d ordered before I found out that old stuff was bad. This was worse. Fiocchi 115gr FMJ, plain Jane range ammo. It wasn’t magazines either, I’d reload the ones which I’d had jams with, and shoot them again, no issues the second time. It wasn’t the sight either, the rear is adjustable, that sight was rock solid, I checked and had Dad check it. I haven’t tried Remington or Winchester pistol ammo in a long time, I think that’s what I’ll order next if I can find a case of it.
I ended up shooting the logs, while walking, switching between one log to the next better than I shot the target paper plates, then quickly went back to the logs. I’ve always been better at… How can I say this? Shooting fast, maybe almost instinctive shooting, especially while either on the move or while still but shooting at a moving target like shooting a baseball across the ground, then I ever was at shooting paper by, “aiming”. I used a two handed, thumbs forward hold and when shooting the log, I’d, have the G34 up, I’d see the sights, but they weren’t in focus, kinda fuzzy, but I wasn’t really looking at them, as I walked and shot the logs. My eyes were focused on the logs. I guess Ben Stoeger talked about that in one of the videos, about not really “aiming” but just more so looking at the target and keeping the sights fuzzy while keeping the target in focus. Somehow I can do that with logs and things but not paper. No doubt consistent ammo would be helpful for that. That’ll be something to try next time, being sure I’m focused on the paper plate and not the sights.
It was a tiring, but damn good time. Thank God I can shoot a pistol again. Dad had fun, but he mostly just watched me.
That G34 Gen 5 is by far my favorite pistol, and probably the “funnest” gun I have right now. It’s a work of modern art, and no, I’m not being facetious.
Equip, train and never disarm.
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