What Did You Shoot Today?

[RicinYakima]

Have a planned gopher shoot this weekend as long as the weather forecast (rain) is wrong. We walk a logging road that goes thru a bolder field, shots aren't very long so instead of a scoped rifle or 22 L.R., lever guns. Just to confirm sights they get shot. Now to look for gophers up on rocks. I'm taking a Winchester 92 in 25-20 and a pair of Browning recreations of the Winchester 53 and 65. Have the 32-20 case family (32-20, 25-20 and 218 Bee) covered. Also shot the little CZ 7.62X39 Carbine.

You have classy Guns there.

 

[L Ross]

Man that's a nice photo of some really desirable rifles. Would not have minded seeing the CZ carbine also, you have fine taste in firearms.

 

[Pressman]

Today was a treat. I got to shoot a buddies guns as I don't have any with me. We started with a SIG 9mm that I caught on to the trigger, after 75 rounds. Nice gun. He had a Glock with a new can and high sights that would not hit the target backer. So, we switched to an evil AR15 with a can and red dot sight. It was nice. Last was more my style, a Remington 700 stainless in 308 with a common 3x9 scope. I liked it and it liked me.
And best f all it was at the Ben Avery range in Phoenix. I had read about this range since my earliest days of reading gun magazines. Today I finally got the chance to visit. It was a great, positive experience.
Ken

 

[L Ross]

A buddy came over from 2 hours away for a day of shooting. Half way here he realized he forgot his centerfire ammo. So we mostly shot .22's and at 210 yards the strong wind from 8 O'Clock made for some interesting challenges. We were shooting at 5" diamonds and 3" diamonds. When the wind would drop I could reliably hit the 3 inchers if I remembered I had .7 Mil left windage dialed in and held appropriately. The rail is up slope quite steeply and there is nice long grass in front of the rail. You could watch the wind in the grass and it would push bullets .3 Mils up and .7 Mils right. I gave him some .311284's over 4227 for his scoped Springfield and he cleaned the buffalo from the 210 rail. Those big slugs were relatively unaffected by the wind.

I also mounted fenders on yet another trailer, a small one for a Grumman Sport Boat. After all of the other things were done, Sue and I jumped on the Indian for a quick 67 mile round trip for a Cedar Crest Ice cream waffle cone. We had a huge doe jump out into the road close enough for me to do some 9.5 braking. The tires howled a little and Sue was elevated to almost standing up. She did not see the doe, had no warning until the bike made the big nose dive. I was awarded a, "Nice job honey."

On our return trip Sue escorted a large older Painted Turtle off the road.

 

[david s]

L Ross, one from this winter. I'm an unabashed fan of the now much lamented CZ 527's. Simply my favorite small caliber bolt guns. I started picking up the Browning reproductions of Winchester lever gun in my 20's. CZ's began in my late 20's or possible my 30th year. Over time I managed to accumulate almost one of each of the Browning copies. Didn't get one of the model 95's. At the time they were less expensive than a decent original Winchester and have always offered good service. I do have a few of the original Winchesters, all shooter grade. The 25-20 is a re-blued 1907 vintage model 92. The re-blued job is so old it's patinated. But it makes a perfect shooter. If I'd have left the Brownings unfired hindsight say it would have been smarter but not as much fun. A fair number of the people at work hunt, yesterday I couldn't resist and showed them a round of 25-20 ammo after asking if they wanted to see the cartridge that took Wisconsin's Jordan buck, the largest record whitetail for 75 years. Who needs a 300 Win Mag?

 

[L Ross]

I also have a Model 92 round barrel rifle in .25-20. The year of its birth slips my mind right now. Such pleasant little rifles. .25-20's are sometimes referred to as the violator's gun. I don't want to violate with one but I'd love to hold for the white patch under the chin that a couple of old boys told me their Dad's preferred when feeding the family in the Great Depression. I have acquired a Model 25 Remington pump that is as petite as a .22 pump and a delightful Low-Wall that I put scope blocks on as it has been refinished before I got it. Talk about a squirrel killer.

L Ross, one from this winter. I'm an unabashed fan of the now much lamented CZ 527's. Simply my favorite small caliber bolt guns. I started picking up the Browning reproductions of Winchester lever gun in my 20's. CZ's began in my late 20's or possible my 30th year. Over time I managed to accumulate almost one of each of the Browning copies. Didn't get one of the model 95's. At the time they were less expensive than a decent original Winchester and have always offered good service. I do have a few of the original Winchesters, all shooter grade. The 25-20 is a re-blued 1907 vintage model 92. The re-blued job is so old it's patinated. But it makes a perfect shooter. If I'd have left the Brownings unfired hindsight say it would have been smarter but not as much fun. A fair number of the people at work hunt, yesterday I couldn't resist and showed them a round of 25-20 ammo after asking if they wanted to see the cartridge that took Wisconsin's Jordan buck, the largest record whitetail for 75 years. Who needs a 300 Win Mag?

 

[richhodg66]

Shot some .44 Mag yesterday evening, something I don't shoot much and am short on large pistol primers. Found some gas checked SWCs I thought needed shooting up and used 14 grains of old Alcan #7. Nice load, enough to let you feel it without being oppressive.

 

[Snakeoil]

Today's Match was standard BPCR silhouettes at 200, 300, 400 and 500 yds. I'd gone to an evening wedding on Saturday with an open bar and got a bit carried away. I managed to crawl out of bed at 6:30 and pushed thru my pain to shoot. Shot my 03 Spingfield with smokeless. There were only a few true BPCR shooter there today.

Another gorgeous day with hideous conditions. Mirage was always there, but changing direction. Not two wind flags on the range agreed so we stayed with our proven friend, the flag on top of the 50 yd berm. We started at 400 (turkeys) and my partner struggled. His rounds were impacting all over the place. It was because he was trying to compensate for not being comfortable. We made him stop, moved the bench and got him comfy and solid. His problems went away. I always hesitate to give him advise because he's probably been competing for a long as I've been on the planet. But we all need help now and then.

I shot a 36. I was happy. Only shot clean on the pigs and did get 9 of those damn skinny turkeys. Had one shot that the conditions had changed. I had time so I waited. It was the last shot on that bank of animals. I think it was chickens. Spotter kept calling the conditions and told me to wait. I got impatient. Thought I compensated for the change in conditions, broke the shot as he was saying "don't shoot" and put the round into the dirt with no room to the animal. I know better. I paid the price.

Tomorrow is 1000 yd practice for the upcoming 2 day NRA 1000 yd match next weekend. Made a mod to the rifle that should give me more repeatability between shots to reduce the work to get back into the same position after every shot. The round Eliseo forend, which is really ;ike a heat guard like on an AR does not provide a flat surface for the front rest. So, I cut a front plate from a HDPE cutting board and attached it with T-nuts to the machined-in bottom rail. Makes a nice flat and slippery platform for the rifle to nest into the rest. Tomorrow's practice will be the first time with the bottom plate so looking forward to seeing how it works.

 

[david s]

So, I had hoped to get to a valley with a boulder field this weekend. Weatherman was correct about the weather rain and scudding clouds all day. Got bailed on by the other two so went out alone. There are two ways into this valley, one is over the top from the Montana side the other is go in on the Idaho side. Was pretty sure it was still snowed in at the top from Montana so went in the Idaho side and meet snowed in road about 4 miles off the highway. Went to a smaller field elsewhere that's about 250 yards long by 50 or so wide. A sort of dog's leg field after 3 decades of growth. Walked it up and back. In the larger field photo, there's a gopher standing on a log in the left center of the photo. And a better picture of what we call gophers. Pretty much a wash of a day. It's been a long cool wet spring here. [url=https://postimages.org/]

 

[Snakeoil]

Well, 1000 yd practice was decent but not as productive as I expected. Steve said he found a jug of 4895 and six cases so he loaded them up. When we got to the range, he was not sure about the powder as it was pretty old. Did not bring them. So, I only had 3 rounds to check my zero at 1000 yds and test out my forend rail.

First shot was a 5. Correction gave me perfect elevation and a 7, cranked in some windage, but the conditions got me and shot and 8 on the opposite side of the bull. Plate was a major improvement bubble on my level stayed put and no wrestling to get it there. Steve brought a brand new Midway shooting mat and gave it to me. It had been given to him by an old friend our ours who passed several years ago. It's about an inch thick. It folds rather than rolls. Damn thing is like lying in bed. Anyway, the plate was the right for that rifle. Here's a pic of the plate.

 

[BBerguson]

I loaded some the of the .454 sized bullets for my 450 BM and decided I’d go to my range (10 miles away) and try them between the rain. Grabbed some other loads to try too.

Always in a hurry, I didn’t bring the ammo I wanted to test… grrr… I had the same bullet but sized .452 so I shot a decent group with them and tried the other stuff. Holy crap were they bad. 3-4 inch groups bad! I brought them home to pull the bullets instead of wasting components with those garbage loads. Still love my CVA Cascades, they just feel right.

 

[462]

After being closed for the last three weeks, the range re-opened.

Before I get into the range report: Imagine only 1 1/2" of rain since January 1 and the resulting brown and dry hillsides, the range being set in a bowl surrounded by those hillsides, and a construction crew cutting up old water pipes, on a hillside. That there is a fire station less than 1/2 mile from the range, and that there are fire retardant dumping aircraft stationed less than 60 road minutes away were what saved the range from being part of the 10 acre fire. The same area was burned about five or six years ago. The attached picture was taken very early on
because the fire advanced to, and almost crested the hill.

Range report: Took the 98% box stock Ruger 10/22 with mounted Vortex 3-9X40 Crossfire II and six flavors of ammunition -- Remington Golden bulk and Thunderbolt, Winchester Wildcat and Ten-X, and Ely Target and Sport. I haven't shot the rifle in over two years and its last cleaning, and it was the first time with the Vortex scope. There aren't any 50-yard targets to brag about or post pictures of, but the Eley Sport shot the best 10-shot group.

,

 

[Snakeoil]

Shot the first day of our 1000 yd match, 60 rounds. Did not do well. Cannot get comfortable and suspect that prone may no longer be a position my body wants to conform to. I also think that I'm muscling the gun too much. Comfort plays a role in that.

Will try a different technique tomorrow for the second 3 relays of 20 rounds each. But a little voice in the back of my head is telling me that F-class is not for me. We'll see.

 

[L Ross]

Shot the first day of our 1000 yd match, 60 rounds. Did not do well. Cannot get comfortable and suspect that prone may no longer be a position my body wants to conform to. I also think that I'm muscling the gun too much. Comfort plays a role in that.

Will try a different technique tomorrow for the second 3 relays of 20 rounds each. But a little voice in the back of my head is telling me that F-class is not for me. We'll see.

I was pretty shocked when I tried to shoot .22 ELR last year from prone and my neck was miserable afterward. Really took me aback.

 

[Snakeoil]

Yeah, the body loses its pliability over time. You never notice until you hit the current limit. I've been stretching in a prone position for a couple months. But 30 seconds of stretching is not 30 min of shooting.

 

[popper]

Practicing with a spray bottle of vinegar on a silly black bee/wasp. Hit it many times and it keeps coming back. Trying to nest in my leaf blower. I'll plug the cord in and run it next week, should get the whatever out. Too hot (100F) to go to the range. So just watch 24h lemans. In the 50s, 120 was top straight speed. 260? Then 90 through the corners? Wow.

 

[glassparman]

Forgot to post last night. My son and I took out a first time shooter. He is the son of a co-worker. He just graduated from HS and was a very polite, humble young man. Hard to find these days.

Anywho, here is my list of what I took out:

7.65 Argentine Mauser Engineer's Carbine
.303 British Jungle Carbine
1898 6.5 Swedish Mauser (all matching and gorgeous)
8mm FN49 (destroyer of brass)
Czech VZ-52 7.62x45 with brass I made from .220 Swift
Springfield 1911 in .45 Auto.

That was it for me.

The young man preferred my son's AR-10 in 7.62 NATO and all his Glocks. Go figure.

All in all it was a good morning.

0630 to 1000 was it due to that big flaming ball in the sky is so much hotter here in the Mojave desert.

Mike

 

[Ian]

That flaming ball in the sky has been hotter last year and this than I remember in a long time. Something going on with the sun, it goes in cycles and this time the Van Allen belts are not doing their normal thing very well so the radiation reaching the ground is way above normal right now. I had to put a roof over my shooting bench recently because the direct sun is absolutely intolerable.

 

[Rick]

That flaming ball in the sky has been hotter last year and this than I remember in a long time. Something going on with the sun, it goes in cycles and this time the Van Allen belts are not doing their normal thing very well so the radiation reaching the ground is way above normal right now. I had to put a roof over my shooting bench recently because the direct sun is absolutely intolerable.

Everything is bigger in Texas, even photons.

 

[waco]

It has just been raining here. Can't catch a dry day to go shooting.