Founder of Illinois Firearm Owners, BWHaas

Posted by on Feb 24, 2014 in Uncategorized | Comments Off on Founder of Illinois Firearm Owners, BWHaas

Founder of Illinois Firearm Owners, BWHaas

Alright guys (and gals), this is going to be a fairly long article, but I ask that all of you do take the time to read it.   (Ahem)   Like some of your know, I am originally from the Mid-Michigan area, where it is more common to see people open carrying handguns and most everyone you come across is happy to discuss the firearms they own with you.  When I moved to Illinois for business, I was worried about the firearm ownership culture here.  As I have found out over the last few years, there are more people here than anyone outside of Illinois would expect to be Pro-2A.  I was very pleased when I was introduced to this group by Rick Cancino and I have met several of you throughout the last 6 months or so that I’ve been here.  I have to say, every day I am glad to read the words and thoughts posted here and on the FB page.  I have “friended” most of you here on FB and for those of you I haven’t, it’s only because I didn’t feel that it was appropriate yet for me to do so as I think there is a lack of human interaction on Facebook before people allow them into their personal lives.   When I was living in Michigan, I was a part of several committees with the Michigan Gun Owners Non-Profit Organization and really enjoyed the camaraderie that was created there and the dialogue that became the reference material that I studied as a beginner to firearms ownership.  I met many people through that organization and still am involved as much as I can be from a 300+ miles away.  Although this Facebook group creates this to a point, there is another way that it can be created that allows an even larger network of like-minded individuals to access it.  I would like to create such an atmosphere here in Illinois.  I started a Non-profit organization here in Illinois called the Illinois Firearm Owners Organization and I invite all of you to join and participate in spreading the word about our organization and our Forum (www.illinoisfirearmowners.org/forum/index.php).  Like our Facebook...

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AR500 10″ Steel Target

Posted by on Jan 18, 2013 in Articles, Lonely Raven, New Products | 1 comment

AR500 10″ Steel Target

Part of my personal training is learning to quickly and accurately engage a target at distance. Both with the AR platform, and my Remington 700 in .308. To make that training more effective, I felt I needed to start using steels for that near instant feedback. Below is my first of what I expect will be many steel “gong” style targets. This steel was purchased off of eBay. There are many shops offering steel targets, some at fairly reasonable prices and some that would quickly clean out my pocketbook. Since I was just testing the water with steels and I wasn’t sure what I was getting into, I went with what was cheap…pretty much like many of us do when we want to get into something we aren’t sure of. This target is made from AR500 steel, and is 1/2″ thick and 10″ around. I went with the 1/2″ because I knew I’d be hitting it with .308, and sharing it with friends who may have much more powerful rifles. I figured 10″ round was a good starting point that would be easy to hit with pistol at 25 yards, AR15 at 100-200, and still visible and challenging  for scoped .308 at 300-600 yards. Here is how the steel showed up at my door. A little surface rust, but clearly a solid piece of metal! The triple bolt holes give me many options for hanging/mounting. So far it feels like I’m getting my monies worth.   Close enough to 1/2″ for our needs.     For the quick and dirty test, we just used some camo bungie cords I had in the car, I’m pretty sure these were on sale for $3 at Harbor Freight.   A quick coat of Rustoleum white – This paint came highly recommended by steel shooters. The Rustoleum has a higher solids/pigment content and covers the steel with less spray, and is supposed to stick to the steel longer than cheaper paints. It’s easily spotted by the naked eye at 200 yards.   The results speak for themselves. After a couple dozen .308 hits at 200 yards, and many, many .223 hits, the steel is still solid and ready for more! The bungie...

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