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Nothing Significant To Report... just a fun day at the range

2K views 9 replies 8 participants last post by  wellthought 
#1 ·
For my buddy’s birthday, I took him to our local indoor range, my treat on ammo and range fees, so that he could shoot my M1A. Now my buddy is an Iowa boy who has an AR-15 (that is still back on the farm) and hadn’t previously thought about the M-14 much, so when I bought mine he really wanted to check it out. We finally got our chance.

Since we were going to the indoor range I took off the telescopic sight of the ARMS#18 and put the Aimpoint on the forward scout rail. With two shots I was re-zero’d and then I let him go to town. I think I (and the California legislature which made many other rifle options verboten) have converted by brother! He is ready to buy and looks forward to having a rifle in hand rather than in another state.

Of course on St. Patty’s day there weren’t too many folks at the range which was good because indoors an 18 inch barrel will either push a lot of people’s buttons (too loud) or attract a crowd. My ugly ducking with its ugly desert camo pattern did attract the attention of a couple of cops again. “No, no officer it is not Pre-BAN… it was bought LEGALLY here in state… yes, this muzzle brake looks different than the old rifles because it IS legal in California… and in case you were wondering those are 10 round mags… That is pretty typical out here in CA. We are all about looks after all, and if it looks scary then it should be illegal. I politely displayed the finer points of the rifle to the LEO’s and informed them that there was a SOCOM-16 for sale right here at the range too!! Some cops are just interested in the gear, and are asking questions seemingly and perhaps truly innocently. Others are jerks who come across like it’s a quiz and they are trying to trip you up. It could be harassment to a degree, but I welcome it. If they know that there are responsible shooters out there who exercise their legal right to be armed to the teeth, but who come across as lambs then they might change their paradigm somewhat. … enough rant!

I broke out my Argentine (circa 81) surplus and was very pleased with its performance. No FTE’s no FTF’s. I admit that I cannot attest to the accuracy when shooting at a 25 yard range, but in sitting position with an Aimpoint ten rounds rapid inside of a 1 inch hole… I think it will do a good job at 100-200 yards. I burned through about 100 rounds. It was dusty in the box and a little greenish tint, but nithing to worry about.

For the first time, my rifle has been handed back and forth between shooters and was getting hotter than I have experienced it before. I am noticing the effects of a hot barrel on the Aimpoint/Scout rail combo. I am beginning to see the limitations of the utility of the SCOUT rail for this reason. Mostly, I shoot with a cold gun and I rarely shoot more than one round a minute when I am by myself at the range. I am loath to move the Aimpoint and zero it to the ARMS… Time will tell.

Later we switched to a pistol shoot off with our Beretta 9mm’s (mine is stainless and his is the anodized olive drab) on an ISPC practice target. I know many folks don’t like the Beretta 92, but both of us were holding six-inch center of mass groupings at 20 yards. My bro waxed me on the final round when he put his last five rounds almost on top of the X. You can argue a lot of “valid” issues with the Beretta M9 (i.e. stopping power, slide cracking (no longer), large clumsy frame, large clumsy grip) but accuracy, shoot-ability and reliability aren’t up for discussion with me. I’ve never had a single problem with any of the innumerable makes of ammo I have put though my pistol or any of the service pistols I've ever been issued.

Finally we finished with a Black Death Challenge with our .22’s. That is allot of fun. I might have bet the range fees on the outcome, but since it was my treat anyway, we stuck with bragging rights. If anyone is interested just google-up the Black Death Challenge and you can check out the rules and download targets. It really makes you hang it out there for the win, and can help improve your shooting skills even among your buddies while still keeping it fun. The basic idea is that the targets are all sized differently and count differently for scoring. The targets are white on black. If you ever hit an edge of the black you are dead. Your score for the whole round is zero. The smallest targets gain the most points and have the highest risk of Black Death. Place a wager and the stimulated stress level can elevate to really test your mettle and confidence in your own skills. It can be humbing and fun at the same time.
 
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#3 ·
Dude, sounds great :!:
Nothin better than good friends and guns :D
 
#4 ·
:D Any Trigger Time is a Good Time, I am glad you had Fun! :p
 
#5 ·
That does sound like you had a good time, I hope I'll be able to get to the range myself tomorrow as it has been too long since I've been.
 
#7 ·
Range Report for 28 December

Took the scout out for another fine day at the range. Beautiful clear skies, 55 degrees and light and variable winds. Decided to get a benchmark for scoring myself. With 20 rounds of 1982 vintage Argentine on a A-14 Target Paper (14" x 14" w/ 8" Black for 100 Yard Smallbore Rifle) I scored an unimpressive 168-1x with irons at the 100 yard line. Trend was I was shooting low and a little left. I adjusted for windage and drop and will try to better my score for the next outing... Whenever that will be....??? Anyway this is a benchmark and it is nice to have room for improvement. Next I will try blackening my front sight post and putting the diagonal pencil line across it. I have been having focus problems with my sight picture. I now realise it is important to have a plan with metrics and milestones when you are going to the range.

I threw my aimpoint back on and let my buddies shoot my M1A. They did not like their results. These are precision long gun shooters and I would liken it to asking a surgeon to grab a cleaver and carve a side of beef. They didn't much like the tools or the type of work.

I then sighted my irons and aimpoint for 200 yards and took my time with the spotting scope seeing how my adjustments impacted the point of impact. All in all a fun day.

My buddy also brought out his Christmas present to himself... a Rem700 VSF with Badger base and rings and a super sniper scope and Harris bipod. He was breaking in the barrel and sighting in with some LC 175grain BTHP. After not too long even my clumsy hands was getting 2 inch groups at 300yards. Out of the box .75 MOA at 300 yards!! Ridiculous!

I am open to other hints and suggestions from the forum on improving my shooting so long as no one advises me to buy a standard length barrel... I allready know that one :)
 
#9 ·
Took the scout out for another fine, sunny day at the range. Scattered clouds, 65-70 degrees and 10 kts of wind out of the south. Decided to see if I could improve against my benchmark from a few months back. With 20 rounds of 1982 vintage Argentine on a A-14 Target Paper (14" x 14" w/ 8" Black for 100 Yard Smallbore Rifle) I improved my score a bit... a real little bit...

I scored an unimpressive 169-1x with irons at the 100 yard line. I improved my score by ONE point since last time. I know that I need to get out to the range more often if I want to see improvement. Again, the trend was I was shooting low and a little left which I found odd since I thought I adjusted for windage and drop since last time.

On the up side, I am very certain that my overall grouping was much better. If I moved my whole shot pattern, 18 out of those 20 would have cleanly fit well inside of the nine ring and the remaining two would have been in the eight ring. Last time as I recall, I was much wider, but a few lucky 10's to offset those wild shots. I remembered to keep my target for future comparisons this time. So more emprical data rather than anecdotal to follow for the next range report.

After that I tried 10 rounds prone, 10 seated, 10 offhand on another A-14 target at 100 yards... Another benchmark to improve upon. Out of a possible score of 300... 165-1x.
Prone looked like I was just shooting low. Seated was really good, scored most of my points there. Offhand was awful...lost all my points there. All in all, lots of room to improve on that score. The prone should not be difficult to improve on I just need to recognize that I shoot low prone. The Offhand... I dunno.. Send help of you can...

On an up note, I put a pencil mark on my 100 yard zero, which I did not do last time, this way I will not have to spend 10 rounds trying to remeber where that point was... Now I just have to put that tiny little dot of nail polish next to it. Gent's, I am declaring victory and looking forward to my next shoot!
 
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