C & E Gun Shows comes to Hickory in November

  Good news! The C & E Gun Shows is making its way back to Hickory, North Carolina on Saturday and Sunday, November 7th and 8th. The show will be held at the Hickory Metro Convention Center. Saturday hours are 9:00 AM to 5:00 PM. Sunday hours are 10:00 AM to 5:00 PM. Admission fee is $8.00 for adults and children 12 and under are free with a paying adult. You can save a little money by printing the "Get A Dollar Off Coupon".

For handgun purchases, have your North Carolina Concealed Handgun Permit or be prepared and apply for and get one or more purchase permits from your local sheriff. Here is a map to the show:

The Beretta U22 Neos. Affordable fun!

Well I went out and did it.  I bought a new gun!  With the expense of ammunition, I needed something affordable to shoot.  I was looking for a .22LR target pistol.  I had narrowed it down to either the Ruger 22/45 MKIII or the Beretta U22 Neos.

Many years ago, I owned a Ruger MKII with the bull barrel.  This was the steel frame model.  This pistol was a joy to shoot.  It was very accurate.  The grip was angled like the old Luger pistol.  This is viewed by many to be the perfect angle for natural aiming.  The workmanship on the Ruger was top-notch.  But I was looking for something a little different.

Ruger MKII With Bull Barrel

I have had a Beretta pistol before; the 92F.  It was one of the finest pistols I have ever owned.  I was very impressed with the craftsmanship of the gun.  Beretta also makes a .22LR plinker.  The U22 Neos.

Beretta U22 Neos

The Neos is Greek for “new”.  And by looking at the gun, new is a good description.  It looks like something out of a Star Wars movie.  Just because it has the Beretta name on it doesn’t mean it is a good pistol, so I did some research on it.  I didn’t find anything negative about the Neos.  Just the opposite.  Everything I found points to a well made and fun to shoot pistol.

The Ruger 22/45 and the Beretta U22 Neos both have polymer frames.  Both are about the same weight.  Both reliable and made well.  So what made me choose the Beretta?  Two things made me gravitate towards the Beretta Neos.  First, it has the same grip angle as the more expensive Ruger steel frame pistol.  Second, the Beretta is by far easier to field strip and maintain.  If you ever owned a Ruger 22 semi-automatic pistol, you know that it can be a bear to take down and reassemble.  I know a story of someone who sold the Ruger pistol cheap because he couldn’t reassemble it! 

Ruger 22/45 MK III Pistol

The Beretta U22 Neos is a breeze to take down and reassemble.  It is a much simpler and modern design.  The Ruger 22 has been around for quite a while and has changed very little.  Unlike the Ruger, the Neos is a striker fire design.  This cuts way down on complexity of design.

Beretta U22 Neos Striker Fire System

Both pistols were selling for the $250 level and both are very well made high-value pistols.  The two things that sealed the deal for the Beretta was the ease of field stripping and the styling.  You just gotta love the looks of it!

When my new pistol arrived I noticed that the fit, finish, and quality was as I expected from Beretta.  It was just fantastic.  The feel of the action was solid.  The angle and contour of the grip fits naturally in my hand.  This makes makes aiming effortless.  There was one problem that I have found, though.  The Neos has an adjustable rear sight, but the windage adjustment screw will not budge!  Beretta supplied an adjustment tool that has a flat head screwdriver for adjusting the sight.  I used enough pressure to break the tool trying to adjust the sight.  I have emailed Beretta to see how to get this fixed.  I am sure they will correct the problem.

As you can see in the pictures in this article, the Beretta U22 Neos has a Weaver-type rail attached to the barrel.  This is important as I have mentioned in previous postings that my “old” eyes don’t like iron sights.  I added the red/green dot scope that I used on my Marlin rifle.  I just love it!  As you can see by the target, it allows me to shoot very accurate…Even with old eyes!

10-Rounds at 7-yards using CCI Mini-Mags

The target above shows a 10-shot group at 7-yards.  The white circle is 1-inch in diameter.  I am not the best marksman around.  I am very impressed with the performance of the Beretta Neos.  I shot at 25-yards and got most of the rounds in the 4-inch black circle.  I will work on that!

On the two days of shooting the Beretta U22 Neos, I fires about 300-rounds.  I used three types of ammo.  CCI Mini-Mag round nose 40GR copper coated bullets, Winchester Super Speed round nose 40GR copper coated bullets, and Federal 36-grain hollow point copper coated bullets in the bulk pack.  It fed all three types of bullets without even one malfunction.  Out of the box, the Beretta was 100%.  As usual, the CCI Mini-Mags shot best, but not by much!  Even the cheaper Federal ammo performed well with the Beretta.  The reliability may in part be due to the Beretta magazines.  These are fantastic and among the best I have ever seen for a handgun.  The spring and follower are extra smooth in operation and the finish of the magazine body is superb.  Good job, Beretta!

Now that I have the scope zeroed in, I can take it in the woods and plink!  I love shooting the steel reactive targets with a .22 pistol or rifle.  The red/green dot scope will make target acquisition fast and accurate.  And being a pistol shooting the .22LR round, I can shoot all day and not break the bank!

It has been a long time since I owned a .22 target pistol.  I look forward to shooting thousands of rounds through it.  Hey, trigger time is trigger time!  I love shooting .22’s as much as the bigger rounds.  And with the cost savings, I can participate as often as I like.

Note:  All images except the target have been borrowed from the internet.

Charlotte Gun Show in October.

The Dixie Gun and Knife Classic Gun Shows is having an event in Charlotte, North Carolina on October 24th and 25th. This is a good opportunity to stock up on ammo and look for that hard to find gun.

This gun show will be at the Metrolina Expo Center. The doors open on Saturday at 9:00 AM and close at 5:00 PM. On Sunday, the hours are 10:00 AM to 5:00 PM. Admission is $7.00 for adults and children under 12 are free with paying adult. You can get a $1.00 off coupon here.

Shooting the Marlin model 60 rifle

The oldest rifle I own is the Marlin model 60.  This is an inexpensive .22LR semi-automatic rifle.  It holds 18-rounds in the tubular magazine.  I don’t know exactly, but I think I have owned this rifle more than 20-years. 

I added a red/green dot sight to it.  As I mentioned before, my old eyes don’t like iron sights.  I found a cheap Walther 1x30 red/green dot scope that will either mount to a Weaver/Picatinny rail or the grooved receivers on many .22 rifles.  All you have to do is reverse the built in mount.  This sight is non-magnified and is great for quick and accurate target acquisition.

The Walther 1x30 red/green dot scope works great on my Marlin 60 .22 rifle.  It has Picatinny rails on it to attach a laser or light.  There is a dot size and color selector.  I think the dot is about a 5-MOA size dot.  At 25-yards, the dot covers about two-thirds of a 4-inch circle. 

The Marlin model 60 is just a fantastic little tack driver.  The wood stock is cut for an adult length of pull and had a nice cheek weld.  The iron sites are “ok”, but you start to see its true potential when you add a scope.  The barrel has what is called “micro-groves”.  This has 16 smaller grooves that is marketed to be more accurate.  I can attest to that fact! 

Yesterday, I tried three different brands of ammo.  The Federal 36-grain hollow point in the bulk pack.  You know…The cheap stuff at the mart store.  The Winchester Super Speed round nose.  This is 40-grain copper plated ammo that is traveling at around 1300 FPS.  The last is the CCI Mini-mag which is 40-grain round nose, copper plated ammo. 

I was not surprised by the cheap Federal bulk pack ammo.  It is fun to shoot, but not very accurate.  I was shooting about 4-inch groups at 25-yards.  I guess you get what you pay for.

A big surprise was the Winchester Super Speed ammo.  The ammo fed 100% but wasn’t as accurate as I expected.  It shot about 2-1/2-inch groups at 25-yards.

The CCI Mini-mag ammo really shinned…Again!  This ammo is the most consistent .22 LR ammo I have every used.  I get the same results from a box I buy today as one from last year.  It cycles 100% and gives consistent accuracy performance.

In the image above, the white circle is 1-inch in diameter.  What you see is a 1/2” group using a 5-MOA green dot non-magnified scope on the Marlin model 60 .22 LR rifle at 25-yards from a seated position.  Click on the image to see the full target.

The Marlin 60 rifle has always been very accurate.  More accurate than anything I have.  When using good ammunition like the CCI Mini-mags, you can drive tacks!

Ammo!

(Click on any image to enlarge)
There is one thing that is as elusive as UFO's, Big Foot, And the Loch Ness Monster. Ammunition! Some calibers are so rare, you just buy it without question when you see it.

Today, I went to Wally World to see if they received a shipment. To my surprise They had a couple boxes of Winchester 9mm 115-grain FMJ 100-round Value Packs. "I'll take both!" They also had the Federal 550-round .22LR bulk packs. "I'll take one of those, too!"

Maybe the ammo shortage is starting to come to an end. Let's hope so. But, for now, I can go out and poke a few holes with my 9mm pistols. It's been a while. Time to give them a workout.