Catchin’ up after vacation

Posted by Greybeard on Oct 24th, 2011 in Fishing, News and weather, Shootist | 0 comments

Well,  dodging the bad weather and all,  I think I’ve got mostly everything winterized.   (For those of you who don’t know)  It get’s cold in the winter time here in Michigan,  and things that aren’t properly winterized,  usually don’t work come the next spring.   All the big items are completed,  boats, pumps, etc.,  just a few little things to do before the icebox get’s started.

I’ve tried fishing the river (AuGres),  a couple of times,  without any luck at all,  so I’m guessing that the muddy water is keeping the fish out in the Bay.   Since the boats are now all in the polebarn,  I guess all those Bay fish,  will last until next spring.

I did get out to the range the other day,  and ran 20 rounds of Black Hill match ammo through my DPMS LR-308.   All 20 rounds went without fail,  which is quite a bit different that using some of the other ammo I’ve tried.   I suppose I’m going to have to blame the ammo for frequent jams I’ve been getting.   I fired 3 rounds at 50 yards,  all which were touching nearly dead center on the bullseye.   Next I fired 8 rounds at 100 yards.  These opened up a bit,  to about the size of a tennis ball,  and still in the bullseye,  on the upper right hand portion.   Finally 9 more rounds at 200 yards.   Here’s where the trouble started.   The first few rounds were off the paper,   but I thought I saw a bullet strike high and to the right,  so I fired the last 5 rounds at the lower left hand corner of the Bullseye.    This got them on the paper,   and I had a pattern of 5 holes about the size of a baseball,   on the upper right hand corner of the target.      That finished off the box of ammo,  so I guess I’ll have to go back and finish sighting it at  200 yards.

I am wondering a bit though,,,   when I move the point of impact at 200 yards,  down and to the left about 5 inches,  how is that going to affect the point of impact at 100 yards?   It seems that it would move it out of the bullseye,   but how can the gun shoot pretty much dead on at 100,   and be 5 or 6 inches off at 200?

Bottom line,  I’ve got a way to go,  before I decide to drive up to Oscoda and try out their 600 yard range.

And for the record,  compliments of Jim Rink,  here’s a photo from Boskey Del vineyard,  looking back at where I took my picture from a week ago.

Doc Russia offline

Posted by Greybeard on Sep 29th, 2011 in Shootist | 0 comments

Ok,  I’ve given it quite a bit of time,  it looks like Doc Russia is now offline.   Link is removed.   We’ll miss him.  Good luck Doc!

The Benelli…..

Posted by Greybeard on Aug 29th, 2011 in Shootist | 1 comment

Ok,  so today I picked up the Benelli again.  This time Frank’s Great Outdoors,  made me pay the return shipping.   But,,,,,   Benelli,  did replace the trigger mechanism as Scott at Rifenbark  Armory suggested,  and the gun now feels very much more like a pump action shotgun should,  and so far has loaded and ejected about 25 rounds without fail!!!   I THINK IT MIGHT BE FIXED.

That being said,  it’s a sad state of affairs,  when someone buy’s a faulty product with a lifetime warrantee,  then sends it back for repairs,  and recieves it back again,  with the same problem.   Then takes it to a promising young, local, gunsmith,  who tells him how to fix it and writes a note to Benelli, (how to fix it) .  then the gun is sent back to Benelli again,  and they fix it.

As I said,  it’s only had about 25 rounds cycled through it, (since being fixed)  but,  now it feels right.  Before,  it didn’t feel right,  AND IT DIDN”T WORK!  Now it feels and acts like a pump shotgun,  plus (Big Plus) it works.   Hopefully after cycling and firing a couple of hundred,  or thousand rounds through it,  it will still work.

Score:  Rifenbark Armory  1  ,   Benelli – 0

NOTE:  I’ve also put dibs in on one of the first few Rifenbark Armory,  1911 style Colt .45’s,  going into production sometime in the near future!!!

Back to the Benelli problem

Posted by Greybeard on Aug 1st, 2011 in News and weather, Shootist | 0 comments

Got a call from Scott at Rifenbark Armory .   He said that he had installed the new parts in the gun,  and it functioned normally for about 100 cycles,  then went back to the same old crap,,,  rack the slide,  and the round gets ejected out the bottom of the gun,  rather that loaded into the chamber.   He then took the gun apart again,  found inconsistencies with the trigger assembly,  and called Benelli.   The said that  a new trigger assembly would cost nearly $200.

He knew I would balk at spending $200 on parts for a gun that was under warranty.  (I had intended to owe him money for fixing it,   but he was correct,  in that I am not ready to spend $200 for parts to fix a brand new gun!).   Scott is going to write up a note as to what he found wrong,  and I’m going to send the gun back for warranteee,  AGAIN!   This time,  they won’t have to diagnose it,  since the diagnosis will be provided with the gun,   MAYBE Benelli can fix it this time.

It’s been nearly a year now,  and my new Benelli Nova 20 pump is still not shootable.   I don’t think this reflects very well on Benelli.   (My gunsmith also stated that they were very hard to work with.)

Bottom line:   I’m happy with Scott’s service.  http://rifenbarkarmory.com/ ,   but I’m still very unhappy with Benelli.

Benelli update (JUNK GUN)

Posted by Greybeard on Jul 6th, 2011 in News and weather, Shootist | 0 comments

I got a call from Scott at Rifenbark Armory yesterday,  to update me on his work on the Benelli Nova.   He said he thinks he’s found a faulty part in the feed mechanism,  and called Benelli to try to order a new one.  Guess what,, they won’t sell him a part,  or supply one under warrantee.   They told him if he wanted it fixed he’d have to mail it back to them.

If you go back a few posts,  you note,  that the reason I took the gun to Scott,  was,  I had already sent it back to Benelli,  and they DID NOT fix it.    Now a federally licensed gunsmith,  and GUN MANUFACTURER,  calls them for a needed part,  and they refuse.    I hope Scott can find a way around Benelli and get the gun fixed,,,   and I know,  I will never buy another Benelli product.

Regardless how you might feel about Benelli,  to me,  they ARE and always will be JUNK!