I recently picked up a used Kahr P380 at my local gun shop. I had ended up with a credit after selling a hunting rifle and decided to give it a try. Have heard great things about them, quality components, match barrel, and excellent useable sights.
Went to Reed’s Indoor Shooting Range in San Jose. My favorite indoor range. I bought some cheap hardball ammo for some initial testing and then three boxes of self-defense ammo for accuracy and function testing. I shot ten rounds of each of the self-defense ammo at a close range of 21 ft or 7 yards.
I started off with the ARX Inceptor which is a new type of bullet. They are a solid injection molded of blended polymer-copper not intended for expansion but rather provide displacement based on the fluting and high velocity. The ARX started off quite well with my first three shots in the X ring. There were no malfunctions. Recoil was quite manageable. Result: 3-9s and 7-10s with 4-x.
Hornady Critical Defense
The Remington Ultimate Defense rounds were a little harder to control than the ARX. They also functioned flawlessly. I seemed to shoot left with them, not sure if it’s me Accuracy was 3-9s and 7-10s with only 1-x. I would feel comfortable using this for self-defense.
Remington Ultimate Defense
The Remington Ultimate Defense was the only brand that had any malfunctions with a single stove pipe. The accuracy was also a little worse than the Hornady with a final result of 1-8, 2-9, 7-10 with 1-x.
I enjoy shooting the little P380, it is surprisingly easy to shoot and pretty accurate. I think I would go with the ARX load. It offers controllable shooting and some impressive results if you watch the tests on their web site.
On June 12th I’m at work when my friend Dylan jokingly texts me he drew two B Zone deer tags again. The CA draw is out. I tell him I’ll check it tonight after work. When I finally do I’m dumbfounded by the mysterious Y next to ‘Desert Bighorn Sheep’. It takes me a long while to believe this could possibly be true. I started hunting late in life, one year after CA started preference points so I have one less than max. Still somehow I had drawn the one random tag for Zone 9 Cady Mountains! Having hunted for fifteen years I still feel like a newbie. I’ve been making up for lost time though taking deer, antelope, elk across the southwest, wild pigs, blacktail bucks in northern California, Pope & Young mule deer in Colorado. I owe my success to the expertise and patience of many wonderful guides and some very fortunate friendships I’ve fostered along the way.
When my disbelief on drawing the tag subsides I get in touch with Dry Creek Outfitters and secure their services for my hunt. I’ll leave on the 27th right after Christmas. Between this time and my hunt I will be laid off from my job, kill my first elk with a bow in Wyoming, and ultimately find a better job that starts right after my sheep hunt! It seems I already have so much to be grateful for.
Preparations begin immediately, what better reason to buy a new rifle!
I frequently consult with Kyler Hamman my favorite California pig guide on all things shooting, reloading, and hunting. He guided me on my first ever big game hunt back in 2002 when I took a great boar. That experience changed my life and ignited my passion for hunting. He suggests I consider a Cooper Backcountry rifle. Ordering one takes six months so I find one on GunBroker. It’s a lightweight rifle at 5 3/4pounds. I decide on .300 Winchester Magnum and top it off with a Leupold VX3i 4.5-14 CDS scope. With Warne Mountain Tech rings and scope it weighs in at exactly 7 pounds.
Kyler also offers the excellent Boar Sight Shooting School with long range set up and I take my rifles to see how they do at distance. He has 8” hanging steel plates at distances from 200 to 600. Hitting 400 yard 8” plate is my goal. All my rifles shoot well and the new Backcountry doesn’t disappoint. I had to use an older turret with a similar trajectory while waiting for the new one and it still rang the bell at 400 yards. I decide it’s good to go. The actual Leupold CDS turret for my California mandated 165 gr Barnes TTSX load arrives only days before I have to leave.
Ever since I started hunting I enjoy collecting and reading all the classics. It’s amusing to read Jack O’Connor in ‘Sheep and Sheep Hunting’ write about his favorite pair of Biesen stocked model 70 Winchester .270 featherweights that come to ‘a perfect 8 pounds’ and would be ‘difficult to improve on’. I wonder what Jack would think about our modern rifles, lightweight hi-tech clothing, laser range finders and turret scopes. I like to think he’d be pleased with our progress and not that we’re a bunch of wusses.
I’m also training physically and trying to not overdo it and risk injury. I alternate days with sessions on a stationary bike and running the hills in my La Honda neighborhood in the Santa Cruz Mountains. As the holidays near I start to get a little paranoid when my wife Kari catches the cold that’s going around. Many colleagues are sick as well. My Christmas spirit this year featured frequent and fervent self serving supplication to the man upstairs in support of my ongoing health. He must have heard my call.
Getting closer the excitement builds. The DF&W orientation in Sacramento is well done and gives me new appreciation for all the hard work these folks have done to allow this hunt to even take place. I didn’t know about the history and their successful efforts to open the hunt in 1989 after 114 years. They do a super job and It gives me some hope that our unfortunate abalone closure won’t be permanent as I also enjoy ab diving and spearfishing.
News of Jason slaying a new state record ram ‘Goliath’ isn’t the first biblical reference I’ll find on this epic adventure. Other pics of rams in social media fuel my excitement. I was anxious to see how my own story would unfold.
Wednesday – December 27th
Finally I leave for the hunt. As I near camp driving Interstate 15 I pass a gauntlet of billboards at regular intervals featuring each of the ten commandments and finally a passage from Revelation 3:20. It feels like I’m being challenged; do I deserve all this?
I arrive at Camp at 3pm and I get the tour. I have a comfortable 2 person tent. There is a spacious canvas mess tent with a wood burning heater where we enjoy Tim’s cooking and assorted delicious homemade cookies and Christmas treats like ‘Crack Balls’ and ‘Magic Bars’. I’m starting to think this may be the one sheep hunt you gain weight.
I show Tim my rifles and gear. Tim offers me use of a walking stick made from a saguaro cactus rib. Some carbon trekking poles have collapsed on hunters giving them a spill so I decide to give it a try. It’s strong and extremely light. The stick was perfect for negotiating loose rock on steep hills or as a bino monopod in the field. Later on in the hunt I notice a well worn inscription ‘Joshua 1:9’ I don’t know my bible verses but in this best of all worlds we live in it’s no further than my phone. The passage includes:
“Be strong and corageous. Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged, for the Lord your God will be with you wherever you go”
A great theme for any hunt and as I read it I can’t help but hear Tim’s voice. He leads us in a brief blessing before dinner each night and in the morning before we all head out. I really appreciate Tim sharing his words of faith with us and he does so with grace and humility.
Our team are: Tim Mercier, Cliff St. Martin, Kirk ‘Sawyer’, Tom ‘Tanto’, his son Luke, and Ben ‘Grizzly’ from Arizona. As night falls they each return to from scouting and compare notes. Several rams are discussed with names like the ‘Broken horn ram’, ‘Juicy’, and the ‘Short horn ram’ None are quite the class of ram we’re looking for.
Thursday – December 28th
Our first morning we leave at 6 am with an hour drive out to a point for glassing. We spend all day glassing the opposite mountain side. It is bitter cold in the mornings. I’m pretty sure I had every layer of Kuiu gear I own on at one time. If there is one thing I should have done differently it is to buy or borrow 15 power binoculars and a tripod. My early efforts free hand glassing with my ten power Leica’s could best be described as morale support. Eventually I’m startled when what I think is a sheep actually stands up! I do get better at it and it starts to get fun.
Friday – December 29th
We leave camp in separate trucks driving for about an hour until we park and all pile into Tom’s lighter rig to make it up a steep sand dune. This necessity makes for some entertaining discussion about the relative merits of Dodge vs Ford trucks. Having arrived in my Toyota FJ Cruiser I elect to stay out of it. We leave the truck near some hills they call the three sisters.
Not far in we spot 2 legal rams bedded in parallel one above the other both facing left. They look like two sentinels guarding the entrance to their world and we give them a wide berth so as not to spook what giants might lurk behind.
We trudge through sand dunes with our wooden walking staff’s like sojourning desert pilgrims. The dunes are periodically pocked with some sort of rodent holes and every now and then your foot abruptly sinks way down giving you a stiff jolt to your back or knee. I try and follow Cliff through this mine field hoping he’ll clear my way but I seem to still hit just as many holes as he does. It’s alternatively annoying and comical as we each hit one hole after another.
On our long hikes I appreciated having the light Cooper Backcountry rifle and frequently forget it’s attached to my day pack until I try and sit down with it on. Soon Cliff informs me we are pinned down on a rocky hill between other sheep. We spend a long day on a hill covered with loose sharp jagged rocks trying not to blow a good ram out of the country. On our way out we all join up and see several rams put on a great show for us on the distant skyline. In silhouette they work a cactus barrel with their horns, butting it open, pawing at it, fighting over it. It’s a beautiful show.
Saturday – December 30th
We make the same drive in and this time we’re seeing rams again but nothing big. Cliff decides to go scout it out solo and see what’s behind the mountain and try not to spook anything. I stay glassing with Ben. This time i’m finally finding some sheep with my Geovids which makes it a little more exciting. I proudly announce to Ben as he returns from natures call that a ram has stood up. Just doing my part. Later in the day a single bee finds a drop of water on my drinking tube and pretty soon I have all kinds of bees hovering around me. Luckily the only plague I must endure. I manage to ignore them and after tucking my drinking tube in my pack they eventually move on. Again, as the evening comes more rams are seen on the skyline. Cliff returns and never saw any better rams. We appear to be done with this part of the country.
The rocks here often contain beautiful pieces of quartz crystals and agate. An earlier hunter even found an intact spear point. During down time many of us scour our rocky surroundings. My sole sorry find is a modern green sunglass lens. It reminded me of my first deep scuba dive off the coast of Monterey. As we descended into the mysterious dark deep and settled into the soft sea floor at 130 feet the mystique was broken when my dive light illumnates a crushed Coke can and Hot Wheels truck. While the desert is mostly pristine, more than one sparkling rock in the distance I’m told were metallic party balloons released and all seem to come to the desert to die. In the heights and depths of my adventures I’ve witnessed breathtaking beauty and all too frequent signs of human disregard. Hunters need to be recognized for their defense of our environment and the habitat of the game we cherish. No amount of millenia will elevate the regard for stuff we’re presently leaving behind to that of a clovis point.
Saturday night at dinner we’re graced with a visitor. A kangaroo rat brazenly enters the mess tent to check out the bounty inside. Calling him a rat seems uncharitable as he’s an adorable egg shaped fur ball with cartoon eyes, clown feet, and a leonine tufted tail. I dub him ‘Captain Kangaroo’ Surely our luck must now change. He seems pretty comfortable in our tent and Luke courageously allows the good Captain to walk on his open palm to retrieve some nuts. He would get his fill and speed out to store them somewhere and then be back again. Of course there’s a fine line between bravery and having to explain to someone at the ER window why you need rabies shots.
New Year’s Eve
We decide to head to another spot were another group of rams had been seen before. We drive to a plateau with a lonely old rod iron fenced grave. The crude wooden head board displays T-Bone Albright – railroad man 1933. Another rock pile grave with cross beside him is perhaps his wife.
We are seeing rams right off. There is a group of ten only a mile away on Cave Mountain. Ben, Cliff and I all sit and look through our binoculars and spotting scopes. There are two good ones in the bunch. They are close enough I can see them pretty well with my Leica’s and better yet with a spotting scope Cliff lent me. I start to get pretty interested in one. He’s a little bit broomed on the right side but seems heavy and wide. There is another pretty good looking one. After much discussion Cliff advises that he might go mid 160’s depending on his bases. Cliff also reminds me that he’ll be the only California Desert Ram I take in my life. I still think he looks great so we decide to take a closer look.
We drive down off from the plateau and get to the base of Cave Mountain. We hike in very slowly stopping often looking for sheep as not to get busted and blow out the rams. Ben leaves us for another vantage point and Cliff and I proceed to a ridge where we think we’ll see the rams. At this point they have moved off leaving a lone ewe on the other side. We backtrack to come up another way and get the wind on our side. We have a long trek up a gradual rocky ridge and finally we are at a point we think we’ll see them. Cliff slowly advances to see and sure enough they are there. I follow him slowly until we find a nice flat rock for me to use as a rest. We put my pack on it and slide my gun up. Additional pads are produced to try and get me comfortable in the jagged rocks. Cliff ranges them at 350 exactly on a rocky hill top in the distance. After looking at the rams Ben suggests the other ram is much better and cleaner and after getting a look up close I quickly agree.
I’m on him bedded at 350 yards trying to steady my gun when they all just bolt upright and start cavorting down the hill right to us like someone just rang a dinner bell. I had feared when we peaked over the ridge they would all alert and I would have an urgent distant shot. Now they are closing the distance to us fast. Cliff says 260 and I’m out of the scope adjusting my turret. Now I’m trying to get on the right ram again. Cliff tells me he’s rubbing a bush with his horns. I finally locate him. So glad to have Cliff by my side, calm and cool giving me all the necessary info. Soon they are all just walking and feeding together, I wait as a small ram stands behind. I’m on him and as soon as he’s clear I’m squeezing and boom he’s hit. My shot was good and took him in the right shoulder. He stands a little longer than I like so I put in another slightly higher and he’s down.
I can’t believe it. I’ve shot my Desert Bighorn. So happy to have taken a beautiful mature ram with an exciting stalk and clean shots. He’s down in a sandy wash. I get up to him and there is no disappointment, he looks perfect, holding his heavy horns. I can’t believe my good fortune to have drawn this tag and been able to spend the past five days with such a fun group of hunters. The rest of the crew eventually join up and Tim says some touching words of thanks. I echo his sentiments and thank the Lord and our team. So grateful to everyone that helped me make this happen. Night falls as we head back to camp and New Years eve fireworks are bursting colors in the distant horizon. This hunt truly exceeded some very high expectations. I can only hope I’ll draw Desert Sheep once more in another state and share this experience again with Tim, Cliff, and the great Dry Creek team.
Cooper Backcountry lightweight rifle in .300 winchester magnum
Preparing for my upcoming CA Desert Bighorn Sheep I bought a Cooper Backcountry lightweight rifle in .300 winchester magnum. My beautiful custom classic in .270 shot so well I was confident they could make a light weight and accurate rifle. The rifle is 5 3/4 pounds! Should serve me well on any sheep hunts. I topped it with my go to Leupold 4.5-14×40 scope with the compensation drop (CDS) turret system. The hunt requires using non-lead bullets so I bought Hornady Superformance GMX and Barnes TTSX. The fast Hornady rounds are slated at 3260 so was hopeful they would shoot well. My first chance to sight it in at Los Altos and while they looked promising they just did not cooperate. I cleaned it well saturday night and returned Sunday to try the Barnes loads. My first group was an inch. Second group one ragged hole. My six 3 shot groups averaged 7/8″ so happy it is shooting them well!
Cooper test target and my target behind (Barnes TTSX)
Next step is attending Kyler Hamann’s ‘Boar Sight Shooting School‘ Kyler was the guide on my first hunt ever in 2002 when I took a great trophy wild boar. He has an incredible set up with hanging 8″ steel plates at distances out to 600 yards to replicate ethical shots on game. He even has a 30″ plate at 1000. I brought all five of my rifles dialed in and hoping to see them shine at distances I might reasonably take shots at game. For the Sheep hunt the goal is to be able to shoot 400 yards. The guides at Dry Creek say most shots are around 200 but want to be ready. I did not have time to have a turret made for the Backcountry so I had to fish one out of my bag that looked close. My 30.06 for Hornady 150 SST looked close all out to 400 where it drops about an inch more. So meet Kyler at the gate and follow him to the bench and start off with the Cooper. Just resting it on bags it rings the 300 plate no problem. After a couple shots on it the plate is hung up. He also has a board next to it for a group. I shoot a group at 300 as he watches through the spotting scope. It’s about 1.5″ at 300 yards. So time to try the 400. I hit the 400. Ask him to video and see if I can do it again. So happy to hear the distant ting and know I just put a round into 8″ vital zone of a Desert Bighorn. (volume up to hear the hit)
This is a great day and I shoot all five of my rifles. The two the really did well are my Remington custom rifle. This rifle was the original bargain basement ADL I took that pig with in 2002 with a Simmons 8 point scope and factory trigger. Since completely customized. It had no problem hitting the 400 and even the 500 yard plate. I didn’t try the Backcountry at 500 knowing that turret would be off. My other Cooper with the beautiful presentation grade stock has been sitting in my safe for seven years. It also hit the 500 yard plate! I’m a Cooper believer.
300 yard group with Cooper BackCountry (shot in black .270)
After finishing shooting all my rifles we decided to try to hit the 1000 yard plate with my Remington. My dial only goes to 600 and we could not even get it to the point we could correct from. Kyler asked me if I wanted to try his Cooper XLR Long Range rifle. Also in .300 win mag. Sure why not. He has it topped with a great NightForce scope. My first shot is near target and Kyler makes corrections on the dial. I have a clear image and my second shot is a hit. And my third shot hits again! Incredible to be making accurate shots at 1000 yards. That is a long way. Kyler tells me I hit it, and near center, all before I even hear the sound. I finish up by putting a bipod on the Backcountry to prep for hunting pigs at sunset. It should be fine at hunting distances. I lay down and hit the 225 plate, the 250 plate, and then the 225 again. Call myself ready. Well we saw a couple small pigs but not the boar I was hoping for. My freezers are full of elk and deer so we called it a night!
Kyler’s Cooper XLR Long Range in .300wm
I have a Cooper Jackson Excaliber rifle on the way in .300 Weatherby. I’ll be bringing that to the range when it’s all sighted in with turret. I will definitely come back again one more time before the Cady Mountains sheep hunt which starts right after Christmas.
I added two upgrades to my Glock 21 in and am very pleased with the results. First, I had it Magnaported. I have a couple other guns ported and I didn’t realize they do Glocks. The effect is noticeable in the reduction of muzzle flip. The .45 is not that bad to begin with, the porting just makes it better.
The second mod is the addition of a Trijicon RMR red dot sight. I had it done with Suarez International. They mill your slide to mount the RMR for best fit and performance. They also add fixed sights, I ordered the night sights, and then co-witness the red dot with your iron sights. The result is a very natural adaptation to draw and sight acquisition. With practice it is very fast.
Red dot sights are definitely the fastest way for most humans to shoot a handgun. When a red dot was first used at the Bianchi Cup it was a winner and no one has won it since without using one. There is a good review on the Trijicon RMR on the Truth about Guns blog.
I tried it out at my local indoor range and it was not disappointed. At 10 yards I could put most through the same big hole. I’m looking forward to taking it to an IPSC practice session where I can try shooting fast. It won’t turn me into an open class shooter but I have no doubt I’ll be a lot faster than shooting my Production 34.
Action Shooting Club match again at Chabot Gun Club. First Stage is “Left or Right” with mix of paper and steel engaged through ports. I have a failure to feed with some new Slovakian ammo. Stage Two is “Movers R Us” another go left or go right stage with three different activated targets. Another failure to feed on my last array. Stage Three is ‘Left or Right’ variation without the steel and just five paper targets separated by two barriers. Thought I had nailed this one but a mike on the third array killed my score for the day. Last Stage is the Classifier “Melody Line”. I shot this one well although a little slow. You can hear my third round on each string is the ZVS ammo which is noticeably quieter. Will have to sort that out and just use the Remington from now on. Finished 8th in Production.
Back to The Action Shooting Club after being away for a year. I tried to ease into it going slow and of course my scores suffered for it but I shot safely finishing sixth in Production Division. Production has become pretty competitive with two production shooters finishing first and second overall in the match.
Stage One was ‘The Semi-Professional III’ another one of Len’s variations on a theme that has you contorting down to shoot through low ports. Second Stage is ‘Air Force One’ a fun stage with a nice mix of targets. Tricky movements on this one ended up in two DQ’s for the day. Third stage was ‘Accelerating Geese’ with two separate echelons of targets, paper and steel. And last was the USPSA classifier “Too Close for Comfort”. Great fun with a lot of great shooters. Am inspired to get back into it now!
Met Paul Roitz, Hunter Cutting and his son Dane up at Los Altos Rod & Gun Club today. We were there to teach Hunter and Dane to shoot clays. Dane is twelve and taking his hunter safety class so he can go duck hunting with his dad and sporting minded family. Dane was a natural. After breaking his first bird I don’t think he missed for another five or six shots. I managed to take some video with my iPhone. Was amazed at the quality and put this clip together. Viewed in HD and at full screen you can see him breaking the second bird on the doubles. Was a great time. Looking forward to more shooting and hunting with the Roitz and Cutting families.
I finally had a chance to shoot my Kimber Ultra CDP II. The Kimber Custom Defense Pistol in Ultra size is the smallest of their 1911 offerings. I had assumed these little .45’s would be extremely hard to shoot accurately. Then one day at Reed’s I noticed they had an Ultra Raptor for rent and I gave it a try. Much to my surprise it was not only easy to control but the excellent trigger made it fun to shoot accurately. They use a short captured two recoil spring system similar to my Glock 30 that seems to absorb recoil very effectively. I picked up my own Kimber Ultra in the CDP two tone model and gave it a try last weekend. This target is 25 shots at 10 yards. I was also able to rent the Commander size CDP II Pro model which was a pleasure to shoot but I really didn’t shoot it any better than the Ultra. Fifty rounds of 230 gr Hardball with no failures. Still need to try it with some defense ammo but so far I’m still impressed.
Enjoyed a great day shooting back at TASC Saturday. Instead of the usual structure they had two morning stages, one complex high round count with a lot of steel and a Classifier called “Life’s Little Problems”. Then we had a nice bbq and celebrated Len Fylock’s retiring from the Club’s Presidency. Len has been involved with the club since 1991 and I’ve always enjoyed his stages. Afternoon was a fun change with a round robin style steel challenge going heads up. I barley won my match with a tie breaker for best two out of three. I was then beaten handily in my next but at least by the guy then went on to win overall. The last stage Len had brought some pneumatic operated targets for a police training style scenario. A great time put together by the folks at this awesome shooting club.
Went To Reed’s Indoor Shooting Range to put the first shots through my Glock 21 Slim Frame in .45 ACP. I have a stock Glock light on it which slides right onto the rail. I like the controls which are right where you have your trigger finger before preparing to shoot. I put 50 rounds through it with no malfunctions. It is box stock. Easy to shoot and very accurate. The only thing I’ll change are the sights. Will probably put on some Meprolight night sights. It’s hard to go wrong with a Glock. Still need to try out Springfield’s XD. Maybe I’ll rent one next time.
