April Rifle Range Report

The weather was glorious, dry and in the low 80's, and we couldn't have picked a nicer day to head out to Clark Brothers.

We did this on Saturday the 19th. A prestigious anniversary I was unaware of until Tam enlightened me.

And I got to put a bunch of new stuff through their paces.

My Garand was up first. It has the new Scout cope from Luepold to zero, and it needed it. But adjusting it was simple and soon it was right where I wanted it. A little high and centered at 100 yards. You can see me walking the scope in at 50 yards:

Then I took the scope off, and tried the iron sight. They were still good, naturally. 7 clicks up to get what I wanted there. Same as always. I put the scope back on to see if it would return to zero. I bought decent Leupold rings just for this, figuring I'd have repeatability with something other than budget rings. And the zero was still where I wanted it, so I'm happy. I'd only rarely take it off from this point forward. 'I' stands for iron, or ARN if you prefer, at 25 yards:

Here it is at 100 after reattaching the scope:

And at 100 with correction. We had My Buddy the Gun Enthusiast's astronomical telescope for spotting holes at this range:

And a little more correction and we are good, or good for me:

The Garand did slam fire once. I'm pretty sure it's the ammo I have to buy from Clark Bros. It's American Eagle, and the primers are just too thin. According tot he internet, American Eagle is the budget Federal brand, and I've seen reports that Federal does use such primers

One BAD thing about the Garand. Once in a blue moon after leaving it in the cabinet for a while the bolt just won't open. I can jiggle the operating rod all day long and it won't come loose. It's never done this during a firing session, just when cold, out of the cabinet or sleeve. If it DID, I bet it'd bend up the operating rod, with my luck. Well it did it this time as I broke it out for the first shoot. I took it to the gunsmith to unstick it and see what he thought. He had no long term solution. The next time it does it, I'm going to take the time to comb over every part to see where it is sticking, stem to stern. It could be up at the gas cylinder, or the back of the bolt, though originally I always thought it was the fore end of the bolt. The area around the firing pin could be it. Maybe if I dry fired it, it would loosen up. Hmmm.

Other than that I was happy with it.

Speaking of slamfire... A guy there had a brand new, to him, SKS. His first clip of 10 the thing slam fired 4 in a row after a few singles. Needless to say, he was done with it for the day until he could do something about it. His 7.62x39 ammo was the same brand that I used with the Garand, so the same light primer applied to his problem. There is an aftermarket firing pin with a spring that can be applied to his problem.

My BAG, "Gummint Cheez" gun was tried out. Marlin 1894 in .357. Sweet. The first two trying rounds were very nice. And the others aren't so bad either.

And it shot well every round. I am so happy Nancy Pelosi is sending me money to pay for this. Thanks Nancy! You're the greatest. Don't look so surprised that I gave you a complement! What? You ALWAYS look surprised? Oh. Anyway, these are the last 4 rounds I shot with it:

All deer killers, even in that 6 ring.

MBtGE had some guns to try out. A Savage .22 with that accu-trigger, a Henry AR-7 survival rifle, and his AR-10

The .22 holes on this one are from the Savage, and the Henry a bit low and left:

The first round I shot with the savage was the bulls eye. I've been doing that a lot. Shooting very well with the first round. Great for hunting if that is a habit. I am not convinced I like that accu-trigger on the Savage, but I can't fault the gun for it's accuracy. The Henry's trigger is a little funky, and that may explain why it shoots down there. But I always seem to shoot left with .22s, pistols and rifles, so I must be blamed for some of that. You can see some .357 holes on there as well. Did I mention I was pleased with the Marlin 1894?

I don't have a target to show how I shot with the AR, but that thing is ACCURATE. I was pleasantly surprised. I will have to bad mouth ARs less in the future. Of course it WAS chambered in a manly .308. MBtGE got a good deal on it, and it is in its original Armalite factory configuration and he has shot less than 200 rounds through it. He wants to customize it and was thinking of selling it to fund a different AR-10, like the one from Panther DPMS. But this guns shoots too good. You can't sell a good shooter. People always regret it. So I guess another AR is in his future.

That star gazer telesope we used as a spotter has a video-out feed. Our next trick with it is to set it up with a lap top or even a projection system so we can keep track of where the rounds strike like keeping score at a bowling alley. This thing can see .17 caliber holes at 100 yards, no problem.