A few questions from a (semi)new shooter

U

Unspoken

New member
Only a year into the sport...very comfortable handling all sorts of weapons, thanks to all the friendly folks in the culture who've shown me the ropes & let me shoot what they own.

Some things I still don't understand:

What is an idiot scratch?

What is OWB and IWB (talking about holsters?)

Why is it frowned upon letting the slide slam shut on an empty chamber?

Why do 1911's in 22lr offend me? That's like putting a slant 6 in a '69 Chevelle. (I expect to hear something about this from the guy with the great signature about taking a .50 to the foot vs. a .22 to the noggin)

I see multiple safety infractions every time I go to my outdoor, unsupervised
range, and I have a tough time saying anything about it. Something about confronting an armed person makes me nervous.

Are you more likely to cause a malfunction in a semi-auto pistol if you load a magazine with different rounds (say hollow-point & flat nose, or ammo with different grains)? Or is there any other reason that tactic should be avoided?

On a website I see bulk 30.06 ammo made specifically for the Garand. Would that stuff run properly in a Savage Axis chambered in aught6?

I'll be attending my first gun show next month to try and acquire my 4th gun. Can I expect to find prices there comparable to a website like budsguns or grabagun? Or will there be insane markup?

If I'm looking at a target that's 149 yards away, but straight uphill, what kind of adjustments do I need to make with my scope/aim? It's 150 grain 30.06, if that matters. The rifle is dead nuts accurate on 100 yards, flat ground, but I'm all over the map with the extra distance & uphill.

Thanks in advance, fellas.
 
1) Results from unqualified people working on things they aren't qualified to work on.
2)Inside waistband, outside waistband
3)It can damage some 1911 pistols
4)No idea
5)Go to another range or just be polite and explain your problem.
6)Some guns feed some bullet types better than others. Mixing won't cause any malfunction in and of itself however.
7)It will function fine but may be slightly underpowered if mil-spec.
8)Hard to say, depends on your area and who is selling there that day.
9)You should only be a tad low at that distance, even up hill, some other variable such as wind or human error will be the likely culprit.
 
A little more on shooting at an angle:
When shooting either uphill or downhill the bullets will be hitting higher than the line of sight.
Yes, it's sounds wrong, but it has to do with simple physics.
The actual bullet path is determined not by the measured distance to the angled target, but the horizontal leg of the triangle to it.
There's plenty of info on the web about shooting up or downhill, if you do some web searches for it.
The bullet drop at the additional distance, from 100 to 150 yds, will erase some of this, though.
To be able to shoot well at any chosen distance, any angle, with any chosen bullet and velocity requires ballistic tables.
Also available via a web search.
You don't know it but you now have an interesting new hobby.
 
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To answer your question as to the benefit of a .22 version of a center fire pistol:
It's a way to get a lot of inexpensive trigger time on one's "real" gun.
 
The 'idiot scratch' usually refers to the scratch you put in your 1911 frame when you install the slide stop lever. Put the slide stop lever in with the lever hanging down and then rotate it up while pushing it against the frame and viola, it creates an 'idiot scratch' in the finish of the frame of your 1911. Seen a *LOT* of them and truth be told maybe created a few in my younger days.

Get some high speed, low drag operators that practice field stripping their 1911's blindfolded for speed and its almost a given you'll get some.

Much more on the topic in one of our very own threads right here:
http://thefiringline.com/forums/showthread.php?t=474649&highlight=idiot+scratch
 
The 30-06 ammo for an M1 Garand should work fine in other rifles. It’s the other way around that could get you into trouble. That is, some 30-06 ammo out there could be hard on the operating rod of the M1 Garand and actually cause damage to it. There’s lots of Garand folk on the board that can provide details about this or do a search in the semi-auto rifle thread for more information.

Mixing different bullet types in a magazine should not cause problems if the firearm reliably runs each type but I’m not impressed with the idea because I figure whatever bullet type would be ‘just right’ for the situation at hand would be the NEXT one up in magazine and not the one in the chamber. I know, ‘shoot twice’ or ‘just rack the slide’ but I just figure I’ll pick what seems to be the best bullet type for whatever I’m doing and stick with it.
 
DaleA
Mixing different bullet types in a magazine should not cause problems if the firearm reliably runs each type but I’m not impressed with the idea because I figure whatever bullet type would be ‘just right’ for the situation at hand would be the NEXT one up in magazine and not the one in the chamber. I know, ‘shoot twice’ or ‘just rack the slide’ but I just figure I’ll pick what seems to be the best bullet type for whatever I’m doing and stick with it.
Click to expand...

+1 (with a proviso)
When I ride (horses) during the summer I always keep snake shot as the first and second round in my .45.
 
1. -not sure...
2. Outside the Waistband vs Inside the Waistband.
3. Because dainty guns break when you do that. It's why i don't own nice things
4. because you're alpha.
5. Understandable. Ranger up and call someone on it in a non threatening tone. But dont be a wuss about it either. Everyone's a safety officer. What kind of safety violations are we talking about? Because I like shooting in the prone if the range is empty, which is technically a safety violation. But you won't catch me flagging anyone, or messing with my guns when people are walking downrange.
5. If they're both rounds your gun can cycle a full mag of, they shouldn't be a problem, however I've never seen the point in mix &match aside from saving money on hollowpoints. Just pick a good allround bullet, and load your mags with it.
6. It should, the reason there are specific 30-06 loads for the garand is that hot loaded 30-06 rounds will damage and potentially destroy the gas system, so they fire a load that produces specific pressures. Bolt actions can fire just about anything you can buy off the shelf. Be nice to the Garand shooters though, their ammo is a little harder to find than ammo for a bolt gun which is a little more robust.
7. Hell no. Well maybe. See the current thread about people not liking gun shows anymore.
8. Shoot low on your target at an upward angle.
 
Gwillikers- You nailed it! I've been reading ballistic tables on 30/06 for two days, and I've bought various types of ammo to test the numbers. Hopefully shooting off sandbags will eliminate alot of human error. Thanks man!

About the idiot scratch: I read through that thread, and I also did a quick google image search to see what they look like. I've seen many tips on how to avoid the dreaded idiot scratch, but since I've never stripped a 1911, it sounds a little foreign. The only handgun I've ever stripped is a S&W SD40, which doesn't involve fiddling with the slide stop. I guess I've been naive to think all guns would be as simple to strip & reassemble as that SD40.

Put it to me like this...When I get my first 1911, can I avoid those dastardly idiot scratches as long as I follow the instructions regarding stripping/assembly in the owners' manual?
 
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