Range Day (finally!)

[amd65]

The sun broke through the clouds today, the wife was busy, the daughter was busy, and I was off work at 1:00pm.
So, I brought a trunk full of firearms and ammo to work, ready to make the first trip to the range in a long while.
Found the range to be empty, had it all to myself.
First up was the browning High Power I bought recently. No surprises there--it worked perfectly, and was a joy to shoot. MecGar 15-rd mags fed without a problem, and will be my carry mags, now. Everything fed and fired--JHP, and some winchester 9mmNATO 124gn fmj (which seemed pretty hot, as it should). Fired 5 rounds at a 100 yard target and got 4 on the paper--I'll do better with some sight adjustment.
Next up was the 45 Colt Ruger blackhawk, again, first time I fired this revolver. I shot some 255gn wadcutters loaded to normal pressure, which were accurate, and hardly kicked--fun to shoot. Then I switched to some DoubleTap ammo +P load 255gn wadcutters. These loads are HOT! I was smacking the steel plates that are about 40 yards from the firing line, and those things were swinging--not to mention the skyward pointing barrel under recoil. I am still using the factory Ruger grips, but will soon be switching to some more handfilling wood grips I found on EBAY. If you shoot 45Colt, check out Double Tap.
After the handgun fun, I moved to the rifle range, where, again, I was all by myself. I shot my home made amd65 for the first time in a long time, and it was great. The muzzle break works really well, I swear this AK has less recoil than my Yugo. Shooting it re-confirms for me that the amd65 is one awsome CQB weapon.
I also fired my Mosin Nagant M44, 1945 vintage. I used hungarian light ball, and hungarian heavy ball (yellow/silver tip), both of which I accumulated this winter and hadn't tried before. The heavy shot very well. The light may have, but I couldn't say, as I never hit paper with this load--under the target, over the target, I just can't say. In a situation like that, I usually squeeze of a few into the backstop to see where they are hitting by the dust cloud, but the backstop was muddy, and showed no result.
Anyway, a fun day under a sunny sky.

[k98k792]

Sounds lke a great time.
I wonder what was up with the Hungarian light ball?
I have gotten good accuracy with it. Of course it was out of a 91/30. So maybe barrel length had something to do with it?

[vair65]

Very cool, thank God spring has sprung. What's up with the M44, what barrel is on that and what happened to the bayo. Maybe I'm seeing it wrong, just curious.

[amd65]

It's just the angle, I guess. The bayonet is extended, as that is how I was shooting it. It is a like new, all matching 1945 laminate M44 I got a few years ago--It came out of the mummy wrap looking like that.
First I fired 5 rounds of the heavy ball standing--all in the black. Repeated with 5 rounds standing of the light ball standing--not one hit on the paper, so I switched to the bench with the M44 on a sandbag. Took my time, concentrated on breathing, trigger pull, etc, and used a 6 o'clock hold on the bull--zip.

[97th Signalman]

Glad to see that you got out to the range because we both know spring hasn't sprung yet in Cleveland. I use AA Shooting and Hunting range in NW Portage County. As the snow melts it is a slushy mess. What range do you use? Is membership required? What are the fees?

[amd65]

West Branch Rifle and Pistol Club in Grafton. I can be there in 20 minutes from my driveway. Thanks to Knobcreek for getting me in there. Annual dues are $120.
I used to shoot at a state range on the east side, about an hour away, which made it a major expedition, but other than gas, it is cheap to shoot at--about $20 a year. A nice facility with 25, 50, and 100 yard ranges. It is located in the Grand River wildlife area. A license, either for one day, or the year, can be purchased at any location that sells hunting or fishing licenses. They have range officers who run a tight ship, and will give you a safety lecture on your first visit. I would still be going there if it were closer.
West Branch is a nice facility, but they are trying to keep their membership down to avoid crowds. I have to say, though, "crowds" have been as many as four shooters on a nice sunday morning in the summer if none of the regularly scheduled matches are going on, and everybody is very accomodating at range sharing. Many times, there are only one or two other shooters there when I visit. The pistol range is fun, as it has a bowling pin table and a stack of shot up pins, first time I have had that opportunity. I also enjoy shooting the steel plates that are hanging about 40 yards out, either with pistol or UZI. I have alot more fun shooting reactive targets than bullseyes. Range dues are reduced if you take part in range work days.

[Optimus Prime]

I think me and my dad figured the light ball was shooting high one day... makes sense to me, lighter bullet, faster speed.

[amd65]

Often times, lighter faster bullets hit lower due to less lag time in the bore.

[KnobCreek]

Sorry I couldn't be there on Saturday, but I was able to go out there today and get in about 2 hours of shooting. Was there with a couple of buddies testing out some armor plating they were trying to develope for our HUMVEEs

[amd65]

Sorry I missed it--I would have been happy to try it out with some steel core 7.62x54 through the m44, or, even some genuine black tip 30.06 AP I have for my 03-A3.

[KnobCreek]

Well, I may be going back either today or tomorrow to test out some repairs I made to my ARs. Apparently, some of the ejector springs were too tight and not allowing for the spent casings to eject properly. Clipped a couple coils off and now need to test. Other than that, the armor testing was pretty fun. They had a nice crono setup to make sure they were using consistent rounds to shoot the armor and the very last armor plate we shot was the only one that actually stopped a bullet; it was a 1 inch aluminum composite. For it's thickness, it was very light. Man, I wish I had a job like theirs where I could get paid to shoot things up.

[KnobCreek]

I would have been happy to try it out with some steel core 7.62x54 ......

You don't happen to have anything that shoots 5.45x39, would you? I went out and bought some Russian 5.45 steel core and I don't even have anything to shoot it with (all 2000 rounds). I guess I was just going to use it as a reason to go out and purchase another toy.

[KnobCreek]

Went out to the range again today and it was absolutely perfect weather; the sun was out and the temps were hivering around 70. Anyways, took out my AR15 builds again and two of the 4 that I built were having gas leakage issues, so I have something to tear apart tonight and tomorrow. Each one was failing to eject every third round...no matter if I had 3 rounds, 5 or 20 rounds loaded into the mags. For the shots that I was able to get off, they were shooting pretty good groupings. Other than that there were no other issues. I kind of enjoy coming back home with things to fix...gives me something to do.

[arnaiz]

BTW Winchester 9 parabellum NATO 124 grains is the ammo is using now Spansih Army.

[amd65]

It's strange, but if you go on the winchester website, they don't list it for sale. I have often heard of it, though. When I was at the last gun show, a major ammo dealer had it by the case of 500 for $87.95, so I bought a case. I don't have a chrono, but it definately seemed hotter than the white box 115gn or the 115gn JHP I was shooting. Supposedly, it hits about 1150-1200 FPS with it's 124gn bullet, the same speed as the white box 115's.
I put a Wolfe 18.5lb recoil spring in my Browning, the standard being 17lb.
Now, for some +P and +P+ 9mm jhp's. I would like to get some of the winchester Ranger 127gn, but I will probably get the DoubleTap ammo load, which is rated +P, even though it hits the same velocity with the same weight bullet as the +P+ Ranger.

[97th Signalman]

It's strange, but if you go on the winchester website, they don't list it for sale. I have often heard of it, though. When I was at the last gun show, a major ammo dealer had it by the case of 500 for $87.95, so I bought a case. I don't have a chrono, but it definately seemed hotter than the white box 115gn or the 115gn JHP I was shooting. Supposedly, it hits about 1150-1200 FPS with it's 124gn bullet, the same speed as the white box 115's.
I put a Wolfe 18.5lb recoil spring in my Browning, the standard being 17lb.
Now, for some +P and +P+ 9mm jhp's. I would like to get some of the winchester Ranger 127gn, but I will probably get the DoubleTap ammo load, which is rated +P, even though it hits the same velocity with the same weight bullet as the +P+ Ranger.

I got some of that 9mm Winchester NATO ammo from CTD. It says right on the box that it results in pressures that are 10% higher than normal. I used it in my CZ-75 and substituted Wolff 18 lb spring for the Standard 16 lb spring. I seemed a little hotter but worked fine, I know that the Czech Military sets the cycle life spec for their pistols using +P ammo.

[SteelCore]

"testing out some armor plating they were trying to develope for our HUMVEEs"

-->Dude...that sounds like an awesome range trip! GOt pix? or a bit more detail?

[amd65]

Sorry, no 5.45's in my collection. I almost bought one of the WASR's AIM was selling, but I need another hard to find caliber like a hole in the head!

[k98k792]

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