I was off today from work and I decided to take advantage of the early voting and go ahead and do it rather than wait for November 8. But I decided to go "All American", go shoot then vote...so I bundled off a couple of rifles. I of course took my AR, the battery had died in the optics and I wanted to sight it in better at a longer distance range. So I got my stuff together....
I got my American Eagle ammo together, I remember reading somewhere that it is like the "lake city" loads and my AR likes it. But my AR ain't picky except with Tula Arms and there will be more about that in a few. I had my rifle ready, the replacement battery for my optics, the standard 20 round magazine and the
crap Tula ammo to just plink.
Decent grouping and I found out that I really had the wrong target for "dialing" in the rifle....and I suffering from "squirrel syndrome" left my multitool at home to adjust the sight, but I found in my rifle bag...this...
And it worked just fine and I am sure there is irony somewhere in this ;)
I got my rifle dialed in respectable and switched to the
crap Tula ammo just to shoot it off,
Yep it performed as expected.......bad primers and insufficient powder to fully cycle the rifle action....Like I said, Tula is better than nothing...and anything else is better than Tula. Well I then decided to switch rifles....I brought out the rifle that I haven't fired in over 25 years...Last time I fired it was in 1990 when I was in a 800 meter silhouette targets in Europe...
It is my 6.5X55 Swedish Mauser. It has been set up for target shooting...and I forgot how loud it was and the recoil. I bought it in this configuration and had the original stock and like a dork gave the stock away to one of my German shooting buddies.
Looking at the peep sights....
Back in the mid 80's it was a shooter, but I don't know how well it would run today. The barrel is fully floating, there is lead inside the foregrip to help with the recoil and the trigger pull is like 1 pound or less. I had thought about putting a scope on it but I have issues with tapping a receiver especially one that old. I can't do it, it would take away from the rifle.
I enjoyed shooting the rifles and it was a treat for me to shoot the Gustav again. Now if I can find a reliable source of ammo I would start shooting again to see how well she would stack up against the "race guns".
I then went from the range to the early voting...
I wasn't crazy for pulling the lever for Trump but Hillary was a non-option. I ain't voting for the man but the message that we "dirt people" still have a say.
I too spent Tuesday at a range. Sighting on a new scope, checking two other previously zeroed rifles to see if they held zero (which they had). Ordered some additional ammo too. I've noted some ammo sellers starting to post notices that rising demand may mean brief delays in shipping. Will 2016 end like 2012, or like 2008, where ammo became hard to come by - especially in popular calibers?
ReplyDeleteHey Doug;
DeleteI have been buying ammo in small amounts, box here, box there a couple of boxes in the groceries kinda thing. I remember after Sandy hook a lot of shooters were caught when the hysteria happened and all of a sudden there was *no* ammo. I will continue to buy a box here and a box there. Would like to buy in bulk but the comptroller would squawk, so I do what I can
Nice looking old target rifle there! :-)
ReplyDeleteHey Old NFO;
DeleteYes it is and it is one of a kind rifle. I wouldn't mind finding a "swedish mauser stock" and returning it to original configuration just for a change of pace ;)