Atlanta NRAAM

Just into town, I loved seeing these signs all over the downtown area.

Cry over that, gun-haters.

Then it was inside, with roughly 80,000 of the best Americans I know.

Lots of manufacturers were present, including one of my favorites, Henry Repeating Arms.

I love this company's rifles, I love their customer service and no-hassle lifetime warranty, and I see a home in my gun room for one of two more of their big-bore lever guns before too much longer.

A lot of classic firearms were there this year.

And a lot of modern ones, too.

PTR Industries was there with their beautiful H&K-based rifles.

They started making these on original H&K tooling purchased from Spain but over the years they've modernized and improved their plant to make rifles that are at least as good as the original H&K 91 and 93 rifles.

Now they even have one in 7.62.39mm.

Made in America by Americans. And damned nice rifles. Probably the only new in box .308 fighting rifles out there for under a grand, too. (Their GI model) I will have one eventually.

I saw Springfield Armory's new XD-E pistol, offered in 9mm only at this time.

It was ok, I guess. but nothing to scream and dance and write home about. it was just another one of many decent, serviceable subcompacts and one that really only stands out because they put a hammer on it, which makes it about as "cutting edge" as the Colt 1911. I was happy that they at least made it ambidextrous though.

Speaking of small pistols, I stopped by Apex Tactical, another one of my favorite companies.

They make aftermarket improved spring kits for several Smith and Wesson guns. (Come on Smith and Wesson...partner with these folks and you'll have world-class guns right out of the box.)
I have their triggers on my S&W M&P pistols and once I saw their improved trigger on a Shield .45, I bought the spring kit and decided to buy the Shield just as soon as I can.

I also bought their spring kit for the Smith and Wesson J-frame revolver and I replaced the springs in my beloved Model 642 last night. Took me roughly half an hour, just following along with their on-line videos, and now the trigger is fantastic.

More later. Gotta run to work.

Off to the range with Henry

I stopped by the range this afternoon, just to do a bit of plinking on the steel targets.
This time, I brought my pal, Henry along.

Antiquated magazine-tube loading from the front aside, I still think that they make some of the smoothest-functioning lever guns ever.

Plus they're made here. And if you have a problem, Henry Repeating Arms stands behind their products.

Fun was had.

Thanks for nothing, Marlin Firearms.

So I've been having problems with my Marlin Model 1894 .357 Magnum lever-action rifle. When working the action, sometimes the carrier allows a second shell to leave the magazine tube partially during operation, binding the action completely with a jam that cannot be corrected in the field. This is apparently known to lever-gun enthusiasts as the dreaded "Marlin jam". This jam and it's fix are described on this helpful page.

Well I called Marlin to get another carrier to replace the one that's obviously worn and damaged from the sharp edge that they at the Marlin factory left on the cam edge of the lever when they built the gun initially. It's clearly a design flaw--their fault.

Not only do they not want to send the replacement parts out at no cost, but they don't want to send them to me at all. It turns out, per the girl who my call was transferred to at Marlin, that gun parts are considered "restricted" and only available to actual federal firearms licensees(FFL)--gun dealers.

I thought that she was mistaken at first. Whole firearms or firearms receivers--the serial-numbered part--are restricted per federal law, but simple non-serial-numbered parts?

Not by law, it turns out, but by Marlin's own policy. The carrier assembly is restricted; customers can't buy one. Hammers are restricted, triggers are restricted...you get the idea. If you own a Marlin rifle, you're not getting repair parts for it, at least not from Marlin. Seriously, what other gun company does asinine stuff like that?

So now I have a rifle that's down and no easy way to get the "fix-it" parts without going through a gun shop. And what makes it worse is that the failure is MARLIN'S FAULT! This is a common defect in their guns according to the lever-gun folks I've been talking to, and Marlin knows it as well as anyone. Yet they won't fix it without charging me substantially nor will they send me the parts so that I can fix it.

This stands in stark contrast to the wonderful customer service that I got from their competitor, Henry Repeating Arms Co., when I had a problem with a used Henry that I'd bought from a pawn shop. Henry took care of that problem like few other businesses would have and I sing their praises and recommend their products to this day.

Marlin...not so much. In fact, Marlin just went up on my "Do not buy from" list, right alongside Colt Firearms.

Shame on you, Marlin. And screw you, too. I will get that part, but I will not get another Marlin product.

Yay!

My Henry rifle is back from the factory.

As you may recall, this used rifle came with some problems when I bought it.

But the folks at Henry Repeating Arms said that they'd take care of it, and less than two weeks after I sent it out, it's back. (And they paid shipping both ways.) They replaced the barrel with a band new one at NO CHARGE and sent it back in a new factory box with new manuals and everything. They also sent a test target that suggests that the problem's been fixed.

At this point, I can't say enough good things about Henry Repeating Arms' customer service. Not too many companies would be this willing to fix a used gun that didn't cost more than a couple hundred dollars when it went out their factory door years ago. This company definitely stands behind their products. It goes without saying that the next time I'm in the market for a lever gun, I'll be looking at their product line first.

Tomorrow I'll test it and see if it shoots as good as I suspect that it will.

Monday...

So over the week-end, I took the Henry out to shoot...and was surprised and dismayed to find that it shoots so far to the right for some reason that I cannot even get it onto the target at 50 yards. Needless to say, that was a bit of a surprise, especially as it looks and functions so nice. Something messed this rifle up before I got it, and sure enough, an examination of the scope that was on it when I bought it showed me that whoever had it last had adjusted the scope almost to the limit of it's windage range, obviously trying to compensate. Yep--I got hosed on this one.

But I'd heard good things about Henry's customer service, so I shot them off an e-mail about it this morning, and I had a reply back in an hour and Henry is sending a UPS call tag for me to ship the rifle in. Now this impresses me. I don't even have to pay to ship it in to them for evaluation. Most of the big gun companies make you pay for the shipping and it says a lot about Henry Repeating Arms that they do this for a used .22 rifle. I'll keep you updated as to the outcome of this. I really do hope that they can fix it. I like the rifle other than it's little problem of not being able to hit what it's aimed at.

And this afternoon, Lagniappe alerted onto something in the yard, and lo and behold, I had this intruder pruning my hedges.
Now if I could just get it to push a lawn mower...

And I finished the day with another nice run. 40.5 miles down.

And a new toy came home

I'd seen this nifty little rifle in a local pawn shop a couple of weeks ago, and though it appeared to have been a touch neglected, there was no mistaking the fact that it had a pretty good trigger and an incredibly smooth action. It's a Henry .22 Long Rifle, and I confess to a weakness for lever guns these days, probably due to all of the John Wayne movies I've been watching as of late. And the Henry Repeating arms Co. has always made nice guns.

Well I dithered over it, even though the shop's asking price wasn't too bad, but it wasn't until my five mile run that I decided. Yep, when I started to tire a bit towards the three-mile mark, I told myself that if I hit five miles--a new record for me--I could buy myself the Henry. And the run was tough towards the end, but every time I was tempted to stop, I saw that Henry, and imagined it's nice, smooth action. I thought about what a great little rifle it'd be to take on backpacking trips due to it's light weight and balance, and I kept focusing on it until I crossed the run's five mile endpoint. I can honestly say that visions of this rifle on my wall rack got me through the run.

So I went to the shop and picked it up again. The price was ok, but I love to dicker. I repeatedly pointed out all the flaws in the gun, especially the surface rust on the barrel and magazine tube. I finally got the owner to knock off twenty percent of his already reasonable asking price and throw in a case to go with it, mostly because of the rusting.

Then I took the rifle home, and cleaned off that rust, and now it's hanging virtually unblemished on my office wall rack beneath a pre-'64 Winchester .30-30. I'll be taking it out shooting soon as I can make the time. Based on it's trigger and how tight it is, I'll bet it shoots great. And every time I look at it, I'll remember how it helped me break the five mile mark for the first time since things changed.