billymagg

Yes Sir, I believe it!

Roger that, my main Dude was a Vietnam Vet, Army Reserve, he felt it messed with his depth perception, and he was flying with the first generation goggle with the single optical aperture, I could understand his concern... he was a psychologist at a State Run DD facility... he mainly flew Huey's, he transitioned into the "Black Hawk"... completely off topic, when my brother had his first open heart surgery, after he got out of the hospital, he was awakened from a sound sleep by a "Hellacious Rackit", he pulled the curtains back, and there was one of his best friends, hovering an Illinois National Guard Blackhawk about 10 feet from his bedroom window, those gents do like to have fun! My brother never forgot that...

Fair enough, but I'm going to stick with the "first round flyer", as well as bullets walking as barrels heat up... of course ammo is also a factor, and its consistency shot to shot, even in the same box of factory ammo, but I've honestly found the Hornady to be very consistant, not to mention reloads and different brass. I'm also going to throw in different magazines, not only different types, but individual magazines may affect your group. So the separate left right groupings where in the same magazine of ten in your group??? yes??? so were you able to change out your scope, could you give us some specifics about your scope and mounting? thanks billy, and good luck, these sudden issues can be very frustrating until you get it sorted out, hang in there!

Yes Sir, no doubt with the S-400 locking on and tracking the F-35, the F-35 would have soon been severely compromised, it was all Erdogan, he's a paranoid Dude, wanted to assert himself, and thought he could have his cake and eat it too, we offered him the Patriot system, (and the moon to go along with it), Turkey has jeopardized every F-35 partner with his theatrics and the S-400.... Stealth or L/O does not mean invisibility, it means operating in a manner that uses your L/O to your advantage, and preventing the bad guy from achieving a "lock".... I believe I read that Major Hosomi's last radio call was to "knock it off"... whether it was vertigo, or simply not being able to ascertain his aircrafts attitude, it appears that he just flew it into the water... For those who might be tempted to criticize, I've found electronic flight instruments to be less intuitive for us old heads. You're also right, in that the helmet is a whole different ball game, I had some Army Aviators tell me they did NOT like the night vision goggles when flying, but they managed...

We need a little more data, you stated you had 3 round groups to the left of your intended point of aim??? so the first three rounds are to the left? and the second three rounds for the next group to the right?? so all bullets from the same group are together, correct??? and every 5 rounds you have a few flyers??? Many magazine fed weapons have a "first round flyer", in other words the first round off the top of the magazine will have a different point of impact away from the main group of the rest of the rounds in the magazine, due to manually cycling the action of the weapon, as opposed to the weapon cycling the following rounds mechanically more consistantly. we typically fire 3 round groups because a barrel, especially a lighter profile barrel will begine to "string" rounds as the barrel heats up, if you fire 5 or 10 round groups that effect will become noticable as your bullets begin to "walk" away from the initial grouping of the first rounds in a cool barrel. I do agree that the scope or mounts are the first point of likely failure, check that first.

Actually one of the vertical stabilizers as well as other wreckage was found several days after the actual crash on April 9th 2019, and the body of Major Akinori Hosomi was recovered 2 months later... you are correct in stating that the main body of the wreckage has not been recovered, although the area continues to be monitored... NO doubt the Chinese and the Russians would love to recover whats left of the first F-35A to be assembled by Mitsubishi Heavy Industry's FACO.. In fact the Chinese have stolen a great deal of F-35 data/plans through military espionage, the Shenyang FC-31 is a veritable clone of the F-35, although it is powered by twin Russian RD-93's as is the Mig 29, rather than a magnificent F-135 by Pratt and Whitney! There should be little doubt in any ones mind that Maj Hosomi was a victim of his own loss of situational awareness, dark night, over water, and combat maneuvering has taken the life of more pilots that air combat ever will... so apologies to Maj Hosomi and his family, Major Hosomi was the flight lead, I can assure you that all operator's foreign and domestic of the F-35 have top secret security clearance... the reason the turks lost the F-35 and their own F-35 parts industry is directly related to their acquisition of the Russian S-400 SAM system which would have collected top secret data on the F-35 and its mission profile.. I can assure you the Japanese have our full support and absolute confidence that they will keep the secrets of the F-35!

Thats nice to know, it does seem like a very happy accurate rifle, on a completely different level than my Rock River Predator Pursuit... its nice to get an education every time I log in Bub. I'm really impressed with the 308 AR, seems that form does follow function, and if Mr. Stoner says its "optimal", thats all I need to know! thanks Bub Off topic: I did sell the poor old Black Bird, so I'm looking for a nice early 2nd F-body in very good condition, they are as you know very pricey, but I would like to find one without corrosion or damage, but who knows, I could end up with a later 2nd gen if I don't find something affordable..

Good for you, you're far ahead of the game, as likely most of our members are. China has taken a huge step in making their massive ambitions known, under China's last President, China had become far more open and above board.... and that was a very good thing.. with development of the J-15 derivative of the Su-33, to operate off the old Soviet Varyag , now Chinese Liaoning, China was making good progress and sharing much of their progress with the world... Under Emperor Xi, China has closed the doors and windows, even before covid 19. China made a quantum leap in fighter aircraft designing, prototyping, and placing in low rate initial production the Chengdu J-20, a large fighter designed to compete with the F-22. Shenyang has designed and flown two prototypes of a supposed 5th gen FC-31 in its export version, but which many believe may be their next carrier based fighter. Shenyang currently produces all the Chinese Flanker variants, including the J-15... So we do indeed need to be very vigilant, of particular concern is the Chinese theft of "intellectual property".... the F-22 and F-35 are both highly developed and extremely effective at what they do in spite of their many naysayers, 5th Generation aircraft are extremely sophisticated, and very difficult to replicate. I completely agree on your assessment of the 308, it is extremely effective at any reasonable range, and the big AR has even greater potential, but I am extremely happy with my Wilson, and I will be shooting it... early last fall I took one of my rifles to the farm, having decided it was past time for them to come out of hibernation. To my consternation, I was extremely poor with it, and it has taken quite a bit of gunpowder and lead to get me to my present, barely competent level... so I'm here to listen and learn, and hopefully continue to maintain my meager proficiency, and build upon it if possible, thanks for all your encouragement gents... and thanks for making me feel welcome, Blessings to each of you, sincerely, billy. I will add that I have upgraded most of my glass, nothing high dollar, but low end bright glass. You can't hit what you can't see, well you can, but its probably something that you wish you had been able to recognize before you sent a bullet down range?

Yes sir! I concur on all points...

I've got a small supply of 165/168's stashed in the basement, so I've been sitting on those until I had a little more "seat time" on Miss Wilson?? but to be honest, she has an 11.25 to 1 twist rate? I'm imagining to stabilize the lighter hunting bullets?? I was kinda shocked it wasn't 10 to 1, and almost passed because of that, but in the end, the rifle fits like a glove, nice, light and balances well?? So, I'm going to continue to work on the lighter end of things for now, I've even got a couple of boxes of 120 gr Winchester, as I stated in the first post, I was a little shocked when I walked down there and found those two situated so closely? I've been following the ads on the gun smoker were all the Wilson factory groups are almost always posted, there's always that first round "flyer" off the top of the magazine on every factory test target.. I'm gonna continue to shoot my 5.56, the UGLY 308 SAVAGE, 30-06 AX Kicker, and I will probably even drag out my nice little FN 270, to be honest the Savage is what sold me on the 308, I'm more of a 30-06 guy... so I'm probably gonna try to build/buy another billet AR-15, I may try it in 6.8 SPC? but that will be at some point in the future

Thank God for that, I was until very recently a Super Mod on the Sino Defense Forum. The USA bashing has finally taken over what used to be a very friendly, straight up bunch of lads commenting on Chinese and other military equipment/strategy, but of late had become a straight up pro-China fan boi site, one of the Jr. Mod's prohibition on calling Taiwan a nation or country? was the final nail in the coffin, most all the Western poster's have left... I didn't need the stress, I'm very happy the Trumpster has put China on notice! end off topic: so ,,,,,, now I'm wondering if I've brushed all the Karma out of Miss Wilson?? I mean, I'm afraid to take it out of the house????

No problem Gent's, my tech assistant has posted the groups, this will probably be my first and last post of a group I fired all by myself?? I mean damn!, that's almost a "magazine group"?? kinda like my "magazine hair" that I used to have, LOL...... You are no doubt right Sisco, and oddly enough, this was the quickest 3 round group I may have ever fired, like I said, I was working on my breathing, and it all lined up, bam, bam, and bam!

I see that, I'm not gonna be able to leave you guys alone am I??? and I thought Jr. was busy?

pictures coming shortly, my tech assistant is busy with the boss, he's going to turning 9 months old here very shortly and he has me on his own deadlines!!! I almost hated to clean Miss Wilson, and I didn't dare shoot another group yesterday.... sorry for the delay my friends......

You're just getting started pup, good for you Bub, probably be another boy, but hey, I had 6 little women, a step daughter, and two step sons, all good. Now I've got three new grandsons, one a young "Hong Kong Lad", my daughter and her husband were able to "spirit" out of Hong Kong as Covid became the evil killer, now Hong Kong is under the thumb or Red China, it was miraculous in the extreme, they were on a plane in Dallas and the flight crew walked off without saying a word, AA then called about 3 minutes later informing them their flight had been cancelled, my Son in Law was able to get a flight the next week by himself, under very strict and stern orders to leave ALL his military gear and ID at home, he said I can't believe I had a full blown "man to man" with The Colonel, it got a little heated, and The MAN demanded a lot of last minute information and a diplomatic letter from the US Embassy in Hong Kong, reassuring the Colonel that they were fully aware and fully supporting my son in laws mission.... thank God for our little Grandson Oliver, and my daughter and son in laws big hearts, and soft head's, yes I did/do think they are crazy, but in a beautiful way!

So some of you have been in on my 308 AR discovery, and given me very helpful insight. To be honest, it was those little bitty 5.56 holes in the target, that drove me to the big 30 cal on the AR platform... I looked at Black Rain Ordinance and Rock River on the used gun rack at Scheels. Those were both heavy, the Black Rain had a 20 inch bull barrel and was actually 6.5 Creedmore, the Rock River was an "Operator", they both felt very awkward in hand... so I continued to look around and really loved the billet uppers without the forward assist and the matching lower, I fell in love with the Wilson, and started bidding on the Gun Smoker on one of those penny auctions from "pretty guns", it was the "Ultimate Hunter", with an 18" fluted slik barrel and a fixed, (kinda funky looking) Wilson Combat stock.... of course I went right after it, with momentary moments of common sense popping me in the head at $1500, 1800, 2 Grand, 2200, well you get my drift, my last bid was $2475, knowing the bidding would end at 8 pm, I went to farm to do some work, and about 7:39, I checked the auction and found it had sold at 8 Eastern for $2500. I was devastated, I really liked the looks of that little rifle, and so spent the next 2 months trying to find another, and could not, decided to build one, but Wilson Combat is "STILL OUT" of the BILLet WC10 uppers and lowers.. so I found a "Tactical Hunter" on Armslist for 3400 bucks, did have Wilson light weight rings and a cheap little Leopold 3X9, and so we started negotiating, young lad had bought the Wilson, and then was accepted into Air Force OTS, so brand new Wilson for sale,,, we negotiated, and negotiated, and agreed on a price, in the end I couldn't drop the hammer, so I thanked him and passed, after a week or so, I shot him another offer, and we ended up about 200 buck higher than that, and I dropped the hammer.... So I've shot it a bit, 3 or 4 outings, several trips to the farm lately, I was literally dripping sweat, so I left it in the case, and shot my really ugly and heavy Savage 110 Tactical, not to well?, as it needs a real glass on it, but well enough... so today we had some rain, it was overcast and sprinkling a bit actually, so out came the lovely Miss Wilson, with her fluted, threaded, combat green, 18" stainless barrel.. Well, my first group was my best, with Winchester 150's, 3 or 4 inches, I proceeded to extend my groups further afield, switching to Hornady 150's, making scope adjustments along the way, as I was tiring of my foot treks back and forth the target to check groups, I had decided to quit as things were getting ugly... but I got back to the truck, and loaded up 3 more Winchesters in my 10 rd Magpul… I don't know why, but I moved my front bag out a little and readjusted it on the old truck hood, I had reduced my magnification back to 6X, took three or four deep breaths and touched off the first two in short order, followed shortly by the third, I actually had a cloud of smoke billowing out of the end of the barrel and the chamber area as the bolt had faithfully locked back on the last round... lit up the stub of my Backwood's cigar and proceeded to take what I knew would be my last trek down to my "pizza box" target. I wish you could have seen the look on my face when I found 2 round's in 3/8's of an inch, and the 3rd inside 2"s of the first two, as tickled as I was with this old man, I'm honestly even more tickled with Miss Wilson, and the cheap Leopold has amazing glass, I don't care for the reticle, its small, with small hash marks, but that glass is amazing! I will try to post some pictures of that last group tomorrow, I didn't expect much, but decided to re-adjust and move my front bag again and work on my breathing, and I'm very happy to own an amazing little rifle, sometimes you do get what you pay for...

Now THIS, sounds like fun, I'll bring some ammo and we can "break it in!"

Good for him! I always admire a man that can rob the cradle, lol!

Old enough to know better?? LOL, I've been tempted to write "Geezer DAD's", I'm 64 and my twin daughters are 22, each with a son, one 6 months and the other 9 months, I've kept the 9 month old while my daughter finished school, so he wears me out, and makes me happy to the core all at once…. Carry on Gentlemen, I wish I was 42 again, and starting this whole process instead of finishing it up!!!

Striper eh?, LOL, a year ago I was on Kentucky Lake with my brother Jim in his immaculate 21 ft Triton, with a 250 Evinrude, 82mph on the gps, Jim passed away Feb 15th after a long and painful battle with pancreatic cancer,,, so I don't know if I'll ever be on Ken Lake again. His Triton is for sale, so a sad sight for me this summer...

Now That is Amazing! I'd like one of those myself!

Its here, very nice, not perfect as I had envisioned, but very nice, gorgeous barrel profile, love the billet receivers, fit is very good, and the trigger is amazing, I'm going to have to square my reticle up, I would have shot it today, but with the reticle listing left,,, ahhh! Oh and it is LIGHT, points and handles like my Merkel side by side, its pretty damn sweet if I say so myself, and that alone is worth the price of admission... between that machined billet upper/lower, fluted 18" barrel, the low mass BCG, and the handguard, it just works! A 20 inch 6.5 Black Rain Ord felt long and heavy, the Rock River "Operator" was short and HEAVY! Neither one had the "FEEL", this girl has that in spades. Oh and the obligatory factory test target is very encouraging, LOL, but as they say, "your milage may vary?", LOL

1977 Can Am with 6.6 on Chicago Il craigslist, in Madison Wisc.... twiddling thumbs, waiting on FED EX! good grief!

Yes a friend had a Can Am, and I actually drove it with the intention of buying it, I was a young pup, living at home and bagging groceries and working on the farm with my Dad and going to College, so NO Can Am... I sat in the showroom several times and spec'd a 74 T/A with a Super Duty, all dreams... I later wound up trading a really??? what can you say about a 76 Cobra II Mustang, that I changed the blown motor for a 70 Mustang 302 engine, with a 4 speed. It did actually run and sounded great... but I had been haunting an orange with white interior 1972 Formula 350, going to college, two little girls, at the time I was married to the "Warden"... guy that I kept trying to buy it from, sold it to a local car dealer, I'm like what the hell??? well long story short, I cleaned up that Cobra II, and drove that thing to Quincy, Il. where "baby doll" was, and traded him for 200 bucks boot.. so I had less than half in it that I would have if I had bought it from the original owner. I loved that car, it had some super wide Remington Radial, and cornered like it was on rails, until it was wet, lol. Baby # 3 brought a trade for a very sweet, 1969 Black Old Toronado, (yes I damn well do hate front wheel drive), but with the 455 that thing would flat out fly, yes I have missed that hugger orange 72 Formula ever since... Any way, sweet little Wilson is back to the gun shop waiting on FED EX, so I'm hoping it will arrive at River Rat Sports before the end of the week??? I'm NOT holding my breath! but I am dying of anticipation, I shot little "axe kicker" again today, I'm finally back on paper after my ordeal with my Buehler mounts, that dang thing does kick, its amazingly light and very accurate, but I realized today the trigger really sucks, its so dang heavy... clean, but very heavy, on a 1950's or so Husqvarna 98 Mauser action, 4100 light weight.. I also shot the 38/44 Outdoorsman from 100 with iron sights, I held about 1/2 the front sight over, and hit about 18 inches hi, but actually a nice clean group, I haven't shot irons at that range in a while, I was very pleased. Like 99% of old Smith and Wesson's, that thing has a drop dead gorgeous trigger... Oh, and when I got done shooting, I fired up my Dad's old Husqvarna Chain Saw, thats a chore for an old man, lol, damn thing.