I always enjoy reading the threads on the backpacking forums that talk about a recent outing... so I'm going to give it a shot for a day at the range.
I was fortunate enough to have time to spend almost all day at Marion Road Gun Club today- it was a little hot outside, but otherwise great weather. The day started with helping touch up some of the recent paint work on the rifle range. I did not remember it was a work day, so I literally brought a bunch of guns with me and walked right into painting. I was glad to help and had plenty of time for shooting afterwards.
The main toys today were rifles- my 16" AR carbine, the 16" "DMR (sort of)" rifle, and the new-to-me RAS-47. I'm going to a separate write up on the RAS-47. The rifles all shot great, no real issues of any kind other than the shooter induced issues.
I shot for awhile on the 100 yard range just punching paper. Then moved over to the 200 yard range to shoot at the gong... which I managed to break the right side wire and had to go rehang this heavy ass 3'x3' steel plate.
The 100 yard range:
I can definitely say I'm out of practice. I was shooting at Caldwell 5.5" shoot-n-see targets, which work fine, but you still definitely need a spotting scope to see .22 holes. And .30 holes for that matter. I didn't really have any trouble getting all the shots on the 5.5" circle target, but darn they weren't "groups" by any stretch. Need more practice. And shooting Wolf ammo probably wasn't helping.
There were a few other guys on the 100 yard range and of course we got to talk and fondle each others weapons (weapons, not guns). I put the SPECWAR 5.56 on my carbine and shot the steel plate on the 200 yard range for awhile- then they were all really interested in the can... And were impressed by how quiet it was. Of course, I'd been shooting with a muzzle brake on before the can, so anything would have been a hell of an improvement.
The 200 yard range (which is right beside the 100 yard range, separated by only about 10 yards and a burm that runs the length of the range).
Since I was planning to go shooting anyway, my wife gave me one of her coworker's guns- a Smith & Wesson Model 60. Apparently this little gem belonged to the coworker's mother. She wanted to know if it was safe to shoot, would it shoot, etc. and asked if I'd go over it. Of course it looked new and dang near unfired, so I had no concerns. I brought some of my 158 grain reloads (medium to light load- nothing stiff) to run through it.
The S&W Model 60, no dash:
I shot one shot, snappy little thing with the wood grips. I shot the second shot and realized the hammer had cut the side of my thumb. So I'm adjusting my grip and start to cock the hammer... it won't move. Now for the next five to six minutes I'm scratching my head and going between thinking about how I'm going to get the live ammo out of this thing and trying to figure out what to tell the lady that owns it now.
After what felt like forever, I got it open and the problem was extremely obvious. My reloads didn't have enough crimp to hold the moly coated bullets in place during the rather snappy snubbie's recoil. The bullet sliding forward in the case was enough to jam the cylinder against the frame and not allow it to rotate.
So I wiped the bloody spots off the S&W and said that was enough for one day through that little thing. I've owned a Mod 60 before, but it had Pachmyr (spelling?) grips on it- different animal. And my hands probably weren't completely slick with sweat either.
Overall a fun day at the range. I've got a couple of videos, but really need to edit the front and end to cut out all the fumbling with the phone. Nobody wants to watch 20 seconds of that.
I was fortunate enough to have time to spend almost all day at Marion Road Gun Club today- it was a little hot outside, but otherwise great weather. The day started with helping touch up some of the recent paint work on the rifle range. I did not remember it was a work day, so I literally brought a bunch of guns with me and walked right into painting. I was glad to help and had plenty of time for shooting afterwards.
The main toys today were rifles- my 16" AR carbine, the 16" "DMR (sort of)" rifle, and the new-to-me RAS-47. I'm going to a separate write up on the RAS-47. The rifles all shot great, no real issues of any kind other than the shooter induced issues.
I shot for awhile on the 100 yard range just punching paper. Then moved over to the 200 yard range to shoot at the gong... which I managed to break the right side wire and had to go rehang this heavy ass 3'x3' steel plate.
The 100 yard range:
I can definitely say I'm out of practice. I was shooting at Caldwell 5.5" shoot-n-see targets, which work fine, but you still definitely need a spotting scope to see .22 holes. And .30 holes for that matter. I didn't really have any trouble getting all the shots on the 5.5" circle target, but darn they weren't "groups" by any stretch. Need more practice. And shooting Wolf ammo probably wasn't helping.
There were a few other guys on the 100 yard range and of course we got to talk and fondle each others weapons (weapons, not guns). I put the SPECWAR 5.56 on my carbine and shot the steel plate on the 200 yard range for awhile- then they were all really interested in the can... And were impressed by how quiet it was. Of course, I'd been shooting with a muzzle brake on before the can, so anything would have been a hell of an improvement.
The 200 yard range (which is right beside the 100 yard range, separated by only about 10 yards and a burm that runs the length of the range).
Since I was planning to go shooting anyway, my wife gave me one of her coworker's guns- a Smith & Wesson Model 60. Apparently this little gem belonged to the coworker's mother. She wanted to know if it was safe to shoot, would it shoot, etc. and asked if I'd go over it. Of course it looked new and dang near unfired, so I had no concerns. I brought some of my 158 grain reloads (medium to light load- nothing stiff) to run through it.
The S&W Model 60, no dash:
I shot one shot, snappy little thing with the wood grips. I shot the second shot and realized the hammer had cut the side of my thumb. So I'm adjusting my grip and start to cock the hammer... it won't move. Now for the next five to six minutes I'm scratching my head and going between thinking about how I'm going to get the live ammo out of this thing and trying to figure out what to tell the lady that owns it now.
After what felt like forever, I got it open and the problem was extremely obvious. My reloads didn't have enough crimp to hold the moly coated bullets in place during the rather snappy snubbie's recoil. The bullet sliding forward in the case was enough to jam the cylinder against the frame and not allow it to rotate.
So I wiped the bloody spots off the S&W and said that was enough for one day through that little thing. I've owned a Mod 60 before, but it had Pachmyr (spelling?) grips on it- different animal. And my hands probably weren't completely slick with sweat either.
Overall a fun day at the range. I've got a couple of videos, but really need to edit the front and end to cut out all the fumbling with the phone. Nobody wants to watch 20 seconds of that.
