So I got this gun about a year ago at the local Cabela's. It was in the used bin and seemed in good shape. The only defect I could see is that some Bubba gunsmith ground off the protective wings on the front sight. I picked it up for under $300 ($274 I think) and got some 10 round mags (Triple K was all they had) and ammo as well. Today the wife left me home alone with the dog and I figured it would be a good day to finally test her out. I took her out of the safe and did a basic field strip, wiped her down with CLP and dry rag and smeared some wheel bearing grease on all the guide rails that showed wear. Grabbed two 50 round boxes of Prvi Partisan 110 gr JSP ammo and headed for the range.
I went to an indoor range with a 25 yard max distance, I figured this would be enough to test the gun and do a basic sight setting. At first I had some trouble getting my gun to feed, I figured it was just waking up from all the years of storage. I did notice that she was grouping left of POA so I started to crank the rear sight to the right. It took a bit of windage, I figure the same Bubba who ground of the front sight wings may have accidentally canted the sight at the same time. It did center out though and I think there is a bit of windage left. When I took my time the group was one ragged 5 shot hole albeit a bit low. I tried pushing the rear sight all the way forward but it was still shooing about 2" bellow POA. I was tired of playing around so I put up a BT-5 silhouette and did some off hand shooting at 25 yards. Rifle ran like a champ and soon the scoring inner zone was a ragged hole. All good hits.
I was surprised at how light the whole set up is and how quickly it handles. The trigger is a bit heavy but not too much so. I did notice a bit of muzzle climb at each shot, but nothing too bad. I only had the one magazine with me and I figure the few feed issues I had were due to the JSP ammo I was using. Several times the soft lead nose would catch on the feed ramp. Next time I will take some S&B 110 gr FMJ I have. I did note it still shoots about 2" low and wonder if this is due to the short distance to the target. I plan to buy a replacement front sight set from Fulton Armory and have a local smith switch out the Bubbafied one. Hopefully this will also fix the windage and elevation issue.
Anyway, I had fun playing with this toy for an hour or so ( I did shoot some other guns too). I think it is a heck of a find for the price I paid. It has all the military features including the evil bayonette lug. So what if it is not "Genuine GI", it was made with GI parts and cost a lot less then Kahr/Autordnance or a CMP gun. Still a nice piece for my WWII gun collection.
I went to an indoor range with a 25 yard max distance, I figured this would be enough to test the gun and do a basic sight setting. At first I had some trouble getting my gun to feed, I figured it was just waking up from all the years of storage. I did notice that she was grouping left of POA so I started to crank the rear sight to the right. It took a bit of windage, I figure the same Bubba who ground of the front sight wings may have accidentally canted the sight at the same time. It did center out though and I think there is a bit of windage left. When I took my time the group was one ragged 5 shot hole albeit a bit low. I tried pushing the rear sight all the way forward but it was still shooing about 2" bellow POA. I was tired of playing around so I put up a BT-5 silhouette and did some off hand shooting at 25 yards. Rifle ran like a champ and soon the scoring inner zone was a ragged hole. All good hits.
I was surprised at how light the whole set up is and how quickly it handles. The trigger is a bit heavy but not too much so. I did notice a bit of muzzle climb at each shot, but nothing too bad. I only had the one magazine with me and I figure the few feed issues I had were due to the JSP ammo I was using. Several times the soft lead nose would catch on the feed ramp. Next time I will take some S&B 110 gr FMJ I have. I did note it still shoots about 2" low and wonder if this is due to the short distance to the target. I plan to buy a replacement front sight set from Fulton Armory and have a local smith switch out the Bubbafied one. Hopefully this will also fix the windage and elevation issue.
Anyway, I had fun playing with this toy for an hour or so ( I did shoot some other guns too). I think it is a heck of a find for the price I paid. It has all the military features including the evil bayonette lug. So what if it is not "Genuine GI", it was made with GI parts and cost a lot less then Kahr/Autordnance or a CMP gun. Still a nice piece for my WWII gun collection.