After waiting 11 months, I finally received one of these shotguns from my distributor. It’s the model with the full-length pistol grip stock, Mossberg’s number 85370. I’ll be adding to this as I learn more about this shotgun but thought others might benefit from what I’ve picked up so far.

As received, the forend is slightly loose, as is the magazine extension. Some people on internet forums have installed a Scattergun Technologies (Wilson Combat) sling mounting plate between the magazine extension and the forend to remove the excess space and thus tighten up the forend. That works. The mounting plate for a Remington 870 is the correct fit, and the plate has a detent ball staked into the plate since a Remington needs a detent ball to secure the magazine end cap. Others are drilling a hole into the Mossberg’s forend for the detent ball. Instead, look at the plate and note which side Wilson Combat staked the ball in place, then turn the plate over and just drive the ball out with a punch since it’s not needed. Remove the magazine extension – note that the spring is incredibly long inside the tube – drop the plate in place – reinstall the extension and tighten the extension in place by hand. At this point, the excess play will be removed from the forend. The sling plate takes a 1 ¼” sling. Mossberg doesn’t include a rear swivel with the gun, so you’ll need a sling and one swivel if you’re adding a sling. And, Blackhawk’s big tactical sling that holds 15 rounds of ammo will not fit – the clips on the sling are too big to go through the swivel mounting hole in the buttstock (and that’s too much weight on a sling anyway).

To keep the magazine extension in place and prevent it from moving or becoming damaged if it encounters a door frame or other object, a clamp is needed between it and the barrel. Nordic Components has determined that the Mossberg is the same dimensionally as the Remington 870 in this respect also, so any Remington 870 clamp will work. I like Nordic’s clamp as it’s the most secure I have seen, so that’s what I installed. At this point, the front of the shotgun is absolutely solid.

The stock bolt handle is about the size of a pencil eraser and has several deep slots cut in it, making it adequate for its intended purpose. I wanted something larger so that I could reach over or under the shotgun if needed. Choate Machine and Tool makes an oversize (though not “too” oversize) bolt handle that proved to be just right. Their instructions say to just pull the stock bolt handle out. Mossberg’s manual says the same thing. You may find that pulling does not yield the desired result. At the end of the bolt handle (inside the bolt) there is a notch for a detent pin (or some such device) that holds the handle in place. Grasp the bolt handle, pull it to the rear and out in one motion. If that doesn’t work, then try forward, rear and out so that the pin is dislodged from the notch. When installing the new handle, slide it all the way in and then shake it back and forth so that the pin will catch in the notch.

The current opinion is that these shotguns need about 250 rounds to break in. That I do not know yet, but I have 250 rounds of buckshot and will add my results together with anything else I discover about these semi-automatic 12 gauge guns and report here as soon as possible.  

After years of cutting firewood, I decided that I was just tired of taking the little tiny limbs off of trees with a big chain saw. Perhaps I’m older and wiser or older and weaker, but I don’t want to reach all over the place with that saw anymore. I walked up into the woods with a 36” axe that has about a 4 pound head and played around with limbing some downed trees with it. That was too much axe. It worked well at felling, but took too much effort to get rid of some branch the size of a pencil. Off I go into the internet world, where I find that of course, I know nothing of axes and there are many more choices that what I would have anticipated based on availability at the local farm supply store. This research project began to look like it might have a rather expensive outcome.

When I learn that there are specific, specialized axes for particular uses and that hand-forged axes are much preferred over any other types, I know this will be expensive. Yet after reading reams of material, opinions are virtually unanimous – a rare find in internet land – which leaves me convinced that I’m going to get the “best” axe.

Drifting over to the Swedish company that was continually mentioned, Gransfors Bruks, I find their website has a wealth of information about their products and uses. Interesting, because it’s rare to see such a niche market company with so much product knowledge. And, all of the information is downloadable, so their diagrams on stacking firewood in a circle, something I’d never seen before, I could get for free. I determine which of the axes is designed to take limbs off, the Scandinavian Forest Axe, and I can then find a dealer there or wherever I wish. I wish most companies had websites that were as user friendly.

Spending six times what a 36” hardware store axe costs to get a 25” axe with a 2 pound head seemed to be a bizarre gamble. How good can these things be? It knocks off branches. I’m rarely impressed by tools (or much else) but me writing this gives away my position. This little axe shows up and it is amazing. This is craftsmanship at its best. It’s not an axe as much as it’s a custom knife edge with a handle, it is absolutely as sharp as most hand-made knives I have seen. The usual hardware store axe has an edge like a chisel, this axe is like a razor. Someone will say this edge won’t hold up to chopping. Really? I’d have said that, too. I’d have been wrong. It seems that most things tend to be mediocre and that’s expected. How unexpected to find something as common as an axe can be so uncommon. Excellence can be encountered when least expected.  

Once again, daylight savings time has ended and we end up arriving home in the dark. Despite several large flood lights, some type of flashlight becomes a necessary tool to move around outside, if for nothing else than to avoid whatever gift one of the dogs might have left for me to wander across. Lights have come a long way from the old big 6 D cell Maglites of 20 years ago and I won’t presume to advise anyone on what to purchase, since the current lights are much smaller, more efficient and exponentially more expensive. There is plenty of information available to make an informed decision, which may well result in a trip to a home supply store for the aforementioned sturdy Maglite (that still makes a fine baton if needed).

What I will pass along is that no matter which light you purchase, from some small penlight to the newest and fanciest “tactical” whatever, it won’t do you much good if it’s too big to carry with you. I know this because I have often exited my vehicle and then thought of the latest retina-piercing light that is sitting inside the house because I became tired of carrying it. That means I, not the light, am not too bright. Definitely something to consider. And, despite all the marketing to the contrary, it’s really not likely that you’ll be needing some incredible beam of light to illuminate the surroundings while you search for your adversary. If so, what you’ll do is give your adversary something to shoot at, which is your light. That isn’t a healthy situation for you to be in.

Most of the time, the light you will be carrying will just be a tool to see things in the dark, not something for S.W.A.T. team assaults. If you are seeing muzzle flashes directed at you, it sure is not time to be trying to identify whatever that is with your light. Instead, just shoot back. A lot. You can go see what it is later. Rather than buy a dozen big lights, be smarter than I was and consider something small enough to carry easily with long battery life. Then if you want a flame thrower, by all means grab one of those, too, keeping in mind you probably won’t have it with you and it will be too bright to use inside a structure – but they are nice to see what’s going on all the way across a street. Despite what the manufacturers claim, lights are just tools, they are not weapons, so please choose them just as you would any other tool.

Credit for this line of thinking goes to Gabe Suarez, since his observations started this commentary. There was a discussion on his forum about lever guns and he said that they were really not fighting rifles. What does that mean? There are several types of rifles that one could pick up and use in an altercation, starting with muzzle-loading black powder guns of the Revolutionary War era through single shot rifles that require a new cartridge is individually loaded after each shot, to lever rifles, where cartridges are loaded into a tube below the barrel and then as the rifle is fired, a lever is rotated forward and back to move a cartridge from the tube to the chamber (if you’ve seen a John Wayne western movie, you’ve seen one of these rifles), and then finally some modern semi-automatic rifle that is fed from a detachable magazine that sticks out below the rifle’s receiver. Lever guns are widely available, generally used for hunting, can hold 10 or more rounds of ammunition, have a short overall length, are fast shooting and easy to handle. I like them.

Why are they not a good fighting rifle? They are if that’s all you have. So is a stick. But, as Gabe pointed out, they are not good if there is a better choice. If at all possible, choose the best choice since it’s your life that depends on it. The better choice is the more modern choice, and rifles like the AR-15 and AK-47 will easily outperform any lever action rifle in a typical fight situation. The more modern rifle holds 30 rounds in a detachable magazine, so multiple magazines can be carried and changed quickly instead of attempting to feed cartridges one at a time into the side of the lever gun. If there is a jam or other malfunction, it’s easier to get inside a semi-automatic to get the problem cleared up and get back in the fight. Lever guns do jam, and when they do, it often means disassembling them to get them fixed. While lever guns can be fired quickly, they absolutely cannot put out the sustained rate of fire that a semi-automatic rifle is capable of producing,  and the situation may dictate that necessity.

While I have focused on lever guns in particular, this can be applied to other types of guns, even bolt action rifles. Yes, they are accurate and can be fired quickly, and they do have their particular usefulness in battle. In an unknown fight situation, however, I think the outbound fire capability of an AK-47 will give a greater edge toward winning the fight. Of course, if you get to choose the location of the fight and you are the ace shot and you can pick off the enemy, then it is your call and I, too, would be taking a hard look at my 308 bolt gun. But, for “something’s happening about 75 yards out and I don’t know what it is,” I’m grabbing my AK and a pouch full of magazines. I’m not picking up a Winchester 92 lever gun and a box of cartridges. Just some thoughts for your consideration.  

As I was getting ready for another upcoming class that will teach me how to better kill people in a hurry while not getting shot, I was deciding on which rifles, which handgun, which type magazines, what ammunition to take, all of the usual decisions I make before a class. Whatever makes a person average is what makes that person not make these kinds of decisions. They’d be shocked that anyone would even consider such things. Their world doesn’t include violence or threats or self-preservation or self-sufficiency. If yours does include those things, then you by default are a lunatic. If you do manage to find a sheep who actually might listen to some advice, that attention span can be measured in seconds. Sheep don’t want to hear. Regardless of what’s said, you’re still crazy. How you look at the world is just too foreign for them to grasp.

What that means is when you dig yourself very deep into the skills and the mindset where you’re operating as a wolf, don’t expect that a lot of people are going to like you very much. It’s not that you will turn into something evil. You may become a lot more patient, actually. But, not to sound like I am throwing out some kind of Zen magic wisdom or other crap, I do think it is due to the aura that you will project out to others. I have touched on this last winter a time or two and it’s worth repeating. Stronger, better skills, more focus and self-assurance in your abilities all mean much more powerful self-confidence and that is exactly what wolves have. Others will feel that and they won’t like it. They will feel uncomfortable. What they do with that feeling is they will figure something must be wrong with you, you’re crazy.

What do you do with that? I don’t do a thing. If this is something that will cause you concern, though, then you should give it due consideration as needed. The kinds of skills and actions that I discuss tend to grow on some people and when you find that 10 years from now you are the one who is busy with classes on how to shoot people and you’re picking out ammunition like others choose pencils, it will be a bit late for introspection. If you choose to let the sheep think what they will about you, then enjoy thinking independently as a crazy paranoid lunatic, since that is what the sheep will think of you. Yet, when a situation does arise, you alone will be able to take care of the problem and continue with your life. I think standing around bleating is a crazy response, not shooting bad guys.

It seems like over the past months, by the time the work week is finished, all the weekend is used for is sleeping, as I’m too tired to do anything else. Not very productive but once the point of exhaustion is reached, there’s really not much that can be done about it. All the weekend projects get pushed to the following weekend, meaning the list of those ends up so long that they won’t ever be completed. Activities are just dropped, not worth the effort if the effort were even available at all. Not sure what is causing this condition and too tired to give it much consideration. I suspect it is just a lot of life catching up with things that have happened to me.

Regardless, yesterday for some reason God stopped by and I enjoyed a few hours awake. Once I recovered from the shock of just being among the living, I was determined to take advantage of it. I ran my long, long list of things I needed to do through my mind and settled on the top priority – check the sights on a pair of AK-47 rifles that I plan to use in a class coming up in November. Grabbing them out of the safe, I locate magazines, ammunition, a couple slings to hook on them and some other shooting gear and head out to my shooting bench (a picnic table).

Twenty-five yards down the hill from the picnic table is an old fishing dock jutting out about 12 feet out into our lake. One corner has collapsed into the water, most of the boards are rotten and it needs to be dismantled but I have been too tired to even begin that project. So, until then, it has served as the unofficial target when some firearm has needed testing for one reason or another. At the far end of the dock stands a 4” wide steel beam, reaching about 3’ above the wood surface of the dock. I pile all my toys on the picnic table, go put the dogs in kennels so they are a bit protected inside rather than be out with the noise (except the little furry deaf dog who doesn’t care in the least) and start loading magazines.

Firing the first rifle at the far side of the dock results in bullets zipping through the dock and large geysers of water flying up behind the point of impact. I fire at the steel beam a couple of times and consider that rifle good to go, it’s hitting where I’m pointing. Half a dozen shots and one rifle is finished. Picking up the second, I figure these guns are probably both fine, so I just shoot at the steel beam and get three center hits. Then, I shoot at the near side of the dock. The bullet goes through the dock, hits the water and the water blasting up blows an entire piece of wood completely off the dock. Interesting, I think, as I load up a magazine and open up on the near side of the dock in a concerted effort to disassemble the dock. Wood is going in all directions. I am really doing a lot of work taking that dock apart, yet I don’t feel particularly tired. This really must be the way to do a job correctly.

Eventually, I decide I have done enough manual labor for the day. I clean the rifles, put everything away, let the dogs back out and have a beer. The dock isn’t quite finished, but I do have a riot gun that I need to work on. If I can wake up next weekend, I believe that testing the riot gun on the old dock will be a fine undertaking. Good, honest labor. I bet I would not be so tired if I did this kind of work all week.   

A recent topic on a forum was what to do when around other people’s dogs. The discussion seemed to be dog-centered, that is the advice was based on observing the dog and then depending on what it was doing would determine what you should do. After thinking about that for a while and after considering what our nine dogs act like at home, I’m not sure that I would suggest that course of action. One would have to be able to predict dog behavior through visual signals while at the same time having no direct influence on the dog that would change the dog’s behavior. Otherwise, the dog will react faster than it may be possible to defend against. No, I do not mean shooting the dog or clubbing it, but merely getting out of the way can be challenging when the dog gets the first move.

Rather than have a meeting between you and an unknown dog be based on the dog, I think it should be based on you. If you are inherently afraid of dogs, that’s fine. React accordingly and that reaction would be to refuse to be around the dog. The dog will know your fear anyway, so why put yourself in that situation? If you can handle dogs but the dog is already visibly agitated, then you can be upset with the owner, who should either be in control of the dog or you can control your part in the situation – again, by leaving the situation. If the dog is not on a leash, you can tell the owner to put it on a leash. Off-leash dogs are only controlled by owners who are very, very good at training dogs. After over 20 years of training dogs, I do not have our dogs off-leash around strangers. Perhaps I am a good dog trainer, but I am not going to risk someone getting bitten by a big German Shepherd because the Shepherd thought that a person was a threat and I was unable to stop the charge. Off-leash dogs are loose, obviously. Loose dogs are fair game. Where I live, loose dogs get shot if they are the least bit threatening.

While watching a discussion spiral out of control and into the realm of illogical, emotional word-fighting, it struck me that this spectacle started from one person mentioning some tattoos he had on his arm. Had he said that he had a scar on his arm, no doubt someone might have asked to see it, a few people may have commented, asked how it happened, and the conversation would then have drifted off to other things. Not so with the seemingly much stronger and more powerful word “tattoo,” since it elicited such a barrage of opinion. There wasn’t a central theme for the dislike of tattoos. I picked out a few recurring statements: tattoos are permanent, you can’t get a job if you have tattoos, your body is sacred and shouldn’t be marked up, only low-life trash have tattoos, tattoos are disgusting, you’ll get infected by the tattoo needles. All these from people who (of course) don’t have any tattoos and don’t know anything about tattoos. That’s the important part – they don’t know anything about tattoos, only what little they have heard from others who also don’t know anything either.

Am I making a false assumption that these people don’t know anything about having ink in skin? I don’t think I am, and I base that on seeing exactly the same kind of reaction from people if I were to take the conversation and just change one word. Remove “tattoo” and replace it with “gun.” Those who don’t know anything about firearms will have no shortage of reasons why guns are bad, nobody should have them and a host of other commentary. The same emotion-based responses originating from a lack of real knowledge about some object that can’t do anything in and of itself as those directed at a tattoo. Granted, a tattoo can’t be used to shoot someone, though with the level of hatred some people have toward tattoos, it almost seems like they think tattoos can do some kind of damage to others. Any object, though, that has strong societal ideas attached to it and is then brought up before someone with a lack of knowledge about that object is bound to elicit an equally strong response. My point with equating guns and tattoos is I wonder whether that lack of knowledge might just make people irrationally afraid. Knowledge about guns is something I try to cover elsewhere. So, maybe some knowledge here about tattoos might give a less disjointed response about them. At least if you are going to dislike them, have an informed dislike.

The practice of tattoo has been around for thousands of years. It depends on which culture, and in what time period in that culture, whether having a tattoo would be considered a good thing or a bad thing. Tattoos seem to go in and out of favor, like various fashion trends. A tattoo is ink forced under a few layers of the skin by some kind of sharp instrument. It is intended to be permanent. It is costly and very difficult to remove. At present, if one gets a tattoo to look like a rebel, then one is going to look like all the other rebels out there, since tattoos are currently in fashion, so a lot of people have them. Whether a body is sacred and shouldn’t be marked is a personal religious view that really shouldn’t be forced on anyone else, at least I would not push my religious views on others and would suggest the same. If you have tattoos all over your face, you will probably be limiting your employment prospects, but since tattoos are so widespread, some design on your arm likely won’t be noticed at all. Given you have chosen a reputable tattoo artist who is using correct sterilization techniques, the chances of getting an infection are no greater than when getting a blood test at a doctor’s office.

“Tattoos are disgusting and only low-life trash have them.” That’s one view, and if it’s yours, then you are entitled to have it. Please note, though, that the “low-life” with the tattoos may well not think you are anything special, either. I’d suggest perhaps a bit more relaxed view of others and you might find a bit of common ground. Any kind of judgment not based on fact is never appreciated. Personally, I dislike listening to some clown running on at the mouth about how people just don’t need to carry guns and only paranoid people have guns and on and on. Obviously, Mr. or Ms. Clown has never really needed a gun, so he or she has no position from which to decide that I a paranoid. A similar person has no position from which to judge that because a person has a tattoo, that makes he or she a “low-life.” Whether or not one sees a tattoo as disgusting is a personal matter and maybe if it’s your opinion, it’s best kept a personal one. As always, you have free choice and can make your own decisions about life and tattoos and what you think about them. Some years ago, I heard a tattoo artist say that “people who have tattoos don’t care whether you do or not,” and that may be the best view to have on the entire subject.

The title is a program developed by the National Rifle Association. Here’s part of the introduction from their website: “Experts agree that the single most important step toward ensuring your personal safety is making the decision to refuse to be a victim. That means that you must have an overall personal safety strategy in place before you need it. Through a three to four hour seminar…you can learn the personal safety tips and techniques you need to avoid dangerous situations and avoid becoming a victim.”

This sounds like it would be a good program to attend. In fact, a couple friends of mine became certified to teach the program and offered to do so for anyone interested in attending the class. They put some notices up where they work (being careful not to obscure some other notices of an upcoming red cross blood drive) and started preparing for their seminar. Today, the human resources department removed all the notices for both the Refuse To Be A Victim program and the blood drive, stating that there was no written procedure in place to post notices.

I have a name for that non-procedure. It’s called bullshit. What the human resources people did was attempt to keep the employees in the condition of victims rather than allow them to gain some knowledge about self-protection. I suppose that was a typical response from anyone in human resources, a department generally made up of politically correct sheep, though I wouldn’t have expected it in this particular company.

Hopefully, the people there will find out about the program anyway and attend – and then realize that there are many ways to be a victim. One of them is to be denied access to information. You can always choose what you do with information you get, but you damn sure should get it. That is theoretically what living in the United States is supposed to be about.

Our little blind Boston Terrier “Zoe” has been spending the past few days visiting with a doggie friend of hers, but tonight she comes back home to snort around, walk into things and snore at night. It seems odd that with the usual pack of nine dogs, having one go away would be so noticeable, but even the other dogs changed their behavior in her absence. The kennels have not been such a big mess when we get home, nor is there near the level of howling and barking, leading me to conclude that Zoe must be somewhat of an instigator during our absence. Of course, when we are home, she is cute and precious and some other endearing words.

What I particularly noticed while Zoe has been gone was the lack of what I normally noticed so much – her snoring at night. Without her rumbling away on my pillow or in the middle of the bed, it has been hard to sleep. The other furry people in bed are always quiet. She’s the noisemaker. And, she’s last out of bed, too, slowly making her way downstairs, needing some sound guidance at each step until she gets to the bottom and can trot out to the kennels and go crashing through the dog door and outside.

When Zoe does get home tonight, all the other critters will sniff her while she snorts around looking for a tennis ball to attack. She will shake it with enough fury that it will fly away, forcing her to begin a new hunt for it again. She seems to never tire of that game. But it does make her tired, and once upstairs in bed, she will find a spot and be snoring in moments, sound asleep. I suspect I will be, too.