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Good day to hit the Range

Hit the range this afternoon with my dad. He needed to shoot off his muzzleloader from deer season.
Dusted off the old 1951 Marlin 30-30. Inherited from my grandfather.
Shot some full power 150 gr loads and some of my 150 gr reduced loads. My dad hadn’t shot the Marlin in like 50+ years so that was cool.
Then shot the AR22 SBR IMG_3582.jpeg
 
Academy had cheap Monarch 9mm on sale for $.20 a round, so I figured it would be a great fit for my $250 Dagger S

Accuracy was better than expected at 10 yard offhand.

Then I worked on some drills with the open gun. Working on transitions from a 7 yard target to a 12 yard and keeping the transition time equal to my split times. What I found interesting with the drill is that if I needed a make up shot, that shot was done subconsciously and always the fastest split. So if you just let your vision dictate your speed and not your mind, you will shoot faster.
 

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Last month I was out with my 1891 Danzig Gew88, 1942bcd K98k, 1941 CZ27, 1941 FN10/22, 1943 French occupation Unique, 1943 Mauser HSc, and my S/W 9mm 2.0 duty gun. 35 feet for pistol, 100 yards rifle.
t
 

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Like I do most Saturdays, I went to Andover to send a few rounds down range. I figured the place would be jammed due to the incoming weather.

Nope. While there were a few cars in the parking lot, it was dead quiet. No one else shooting that I could hear.
 
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Well, I suppose any day on the range is better than no day on the range.

At least I found out that my new shotgun doesn't function correctly.

940 function test thumbnail.png

Mossberg 940 Pro Tactical w/ Holosun 507K.

Recently purchased.

Round count so far: 125 birdshot, 20 OOB, 10 slugs

Frequently won’t feed and chamber a round from a full magazine.

Bolt seems to hang up in the rear position.

Pushing up on lifter or pushing forward on bolt handle generally fixes the malfunction.

Disassembled/Cleaned/Reassembled by following the provided video link to Jerry Miculek’s video.

Heavy wear mark on inside left of receiver – strange for a firearm with such a low round count

Mag tube won’t hold 7 rounds as advertised.

Disassembled/reassembled again by following Jerry Miculek’s video.

Problems continue...
 
My son bought a Ruger American in 5.56mm and also recently got a Silencerco Saker 556K Suppressor.

He took the thermal sight off his Christensen Arms rifle and put it on the Ruger.

We zeroed it today and he let me fire a few shots.

Andrew Ben new Ruger edit 01.13.2024.jpg

We taped a hand warmer to a paper target as an aiming point.

Thermal Target 01.13.2024.jpg
 
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Well, I suppose any day on the range is better than no day on the range.

At least I found out that my new shotgun doesn't function correctly.

View attachment 836236

Mossberg 940 Pro Tactical w/ Holosun 507K.

Recently purchased.

Round count so far: 125 birdshot, 20 OOB, 10 slugs

Frequently won’t feed and chamber a round from a full magazine.

Bolt seems to hang up in the rear position.

Pushing up on lifter or pushing forward on bolt handle generally fixes the malfunction.

Disassembled/Cleaned/Reassembled by following the provided video link to Jerry Miculek’s video.

Heavy wear mark on inside left of receiver – strange for a firearm with such a low round count

Mag tube won’t hold 7 rounds as advertised.

Disassembled/reassembled again by following Jerry Miculek’s video.

Problems continue...

I had some problems with a Mossberg 930. Had two gunsmiths look at it locally, neither could fix. Sent it to Mossberg, they fixed it and returned it promptly.
 
Shot a match yesterday. Pro-tip: When the stage brief reads "3 on paper", try harder not to revert to habit and dump two on each. That's four Mikes. Didn't zero the stage, but 1.x hit factor's pretty awful.

After the match, I went to one of the other pits to work with my iron sighted guns. Friend of mine was in an adjoining pit, and I walked over to BS, ended up shooting with him. He's an instructor, and ran me through a couple of drills with my dot gun.

My draw is still sloppy, I don't build the grip early enough. So we talked about that, and how to improve it.

Then working at close range, emphasizing speed, we got me down to .90 from beep to an alpha at about 10 feet. Then started shooting same drill, but with six shots. Difference with six shots is that you need to see the dot at least briefly. He's working on getting six alphas at under 1.8 seconds from a holstered gun. I started at 2.85, got it down to 2.25, still all alphas.

It was nice working one on one with someone who knows so much more than me.
 
Shot a match yesterday. Pro-tip: When the stage brief reads "3 on paper", try harder not to revert to habit and dump two on each. That's four Mikes. Didn't zero the stage, but 1.x hit factor's pretty awful.

After the match, I went to one of the other pits to work with my iron sighted guns. Friend of mine was in an adjoining pit, and I walked over to BS, ended up shooting with him. He's an instructor, and ran me through a couple of drills with my dot gun.

My draw is still sloppy, I don't build the grip early enough. So we talked about that, and how to improve it.

Then working at close range, emphasizing speed, we got me down to .90 from beep to an alpha at about 10 feet. Then started shooting same drill, but with six shots. Difference with six shots is that you need to see the dot at least briefly. He's working on getting six alphas at under 1.8 seconds from a holstered gun. I started at 2.85, got it down to 2.25, still all alphas.

It was nice working one on one with someone who knows so much more than me.
I need to get to a pistol class this year.
 
Wife and I, okay time to give her a name.... Cathy. Cathy and I did drills with the 9mm handguns. Draw, two to the body, one to the head, do the mag load another and repeat. It's been three years since we have had time to do this stuff.

I think we are now hitting the range two to three times a week between rifle, handgun and shotgun.
 
Wife and I, okay time to give her a name.... Cathy. Cathy and I did drills with the 9mm handguns. Draw, two to the body, one to the head, do the mag load another and repeat. It's been three years since we have had time to do this stuff.

I think we are now hitting the range two to three times a week between rifle, handgun and shotgun.
Try scheduling your range time just like you schedule grocery shopping, laundry, fitness, etc...

Probably not as frequent as some of those activities, but schedule it nonetheless.
 
Try scheduling your range time just like you schedule grocery shopping, laundry, fitness, etc...

Probably not as frequent as some of those activities, but schedule it nonetheless.

Years ago when I bought my house, I was sitting with my agent who seemed like she was taking one call after another and making appointments to meet people at crazy off hours. I mentioned that she must feel like she has no time for herself. She replied she had plenty of time to do what she liked, she just made appointments like she would for any business related activity. If she wanted to go skiing, she "made an appointment" for January 29. If clients called asking about that particular day, she'd check her schedule, see she was skiing that day and tell them she was booked and how about the day before or after or whatever. She of course wouldnt say "Im skiing that day", she'd just say she was booked and suggest another time.

Ive often thought of that when I catch myself complaining that I dont have time for something or hear someone else saying the same. If it were an important appointment, Id find the time. You just have to make sure that your own life is important enough to set aside some time now and then.
 
Ive often thought of that when I catch myself complaining that I dont have time for something or hear someone else saying the same. If it were an important appointment, Id find the time. You just have to make sure that your own life is important enough to set aside some time now and then.
It works.

All you need is the discipline.

As an aside:
Years ago when I bought my house, I was sitting with my agent who seemed like she was taking one call after another and making appointments to meet people at crazy off hours.
We were having a party at our house and it was late in the evening.

One of our friends is a realtor and someone else mentioned a house down the street from ours that was for sale.

Our friend says, "Want to go see it?"

The other guest says, "Sure".

So we all walk down the street at 11:30pm, our friend puts in her code for the key box, and we stroll through the house.

Of course the neighbors on the other side see some activity in the house so late at night and call the cops.

When the cops show up one of them just happens to be our Neighborhood Watch Liaison.

After a brief explanation everything got cleared up and we went back to my house.

Good times!

(The realtor did not close the deal and the guest did not buy the house.)
 
Well, I suppose any day on the range is better than no day on the range.

At least I found out that my new shotgun doesn't function correctly.

View attachment 836236

Mossberg 940 Pro Tactical w/ Holosun 507K.

Recently purchased.

Round count so far: 125 birdshot, 20 OOB, 10 slugs

Frequently won’t feed and chamber a round from a full magazine.

Bolt seems to hang up in the rear position.

Pushing up on lifter or pushing forward on bolt handle generally fixes the malfunction.

Disassembled/Cleaned/Reassembled by following the provided video link to Jerry Miculek’s video.

Heavy wear mark on inside left of receiver – strange for a firearm with such a low round count

Mag tube won’t hold 7 rounds as advertised.

Disassembled/reassembled again by following Jerry Miculek’s video.

Problems continue...
I had similar issues with my 930 pro that I was using for 3 gun. I replaced the follower with an aluminum one, replaced the mag spring with a wolf spring, and only use high-brass shells. It functions much better now but still has the occasional hiccup. Steel shells are still an issue so I avoid them. Hope this helps.
 
Just got back. Christ that's fun. So today we decided to set up the thrower to launch things coming across us for a little while. Well that's a bit different. I missed the first two but then figured it out. Gotta move fast. Track it, pull ahead a bit, pull the trigger but keep it moving. I used my v3 and my wife's silver reserve 20 gauge. Her gun is way too small for me but man it's fun. Mine is so barrel heavy. Hers is just weightless in my hands. Ugghh.... makes me want an o/u. But I can't complain. I'm barely missing with my gun. The thing just works. I think I'm ready to try actual trap shooting.
 
Checked the zero on my thermal sight.

Three shots; supported standing, one hit and two just off the mark at 100y.

handwarmer target hits.jpg

Then ran some reps from a few different positions and snapped this screenshot from the video.

thermal expedient thumbnail.png

Also did Larry Vickers' Devil Drill.

Went over PAR on all the strings, but I'll use the excuse that I was drawing/reloading from concealment.
😆

Devil drill thumbnail.png
 
Got a GSSF (Glock) match coming up next weekend. If you're familiar with GSSF, skip at least the next paragraph :)

Glock matches have very simple format, multiple instances of the same three stages, and they're sort of like Steel Challenge. Multiple divisions, so you can enter multiple times, and each stage is run 3 times, (except for plate rack which is run four times). Score is time-plus, and emphasis is on accuracy rather than speed. Misses cost you dearly.

I'm shooting four divisions, Unlimited, MOS, Competition and Master Stock. Unlimited and MOS are no-brainers, running dot guns. The other two are not quite as straightforward for me - they're iron-sighted divisions.

So, yesterday I went to the range with my dot guns and a couple different ironsighted guns to figure out what to run, and to get in some very necessary practice.

Shot the plate rack first. Good prep for match because our rack has five inch plates, and the GSSF match plates are at least eight inches. They'll seem huge when I shoot them.

Then the real purpose of the day. I set up cardboard targets at 10 yards, 15 yards and 25 yards - and shot sequences. Double on each target with the transations, run three times. Total 18 shots.

No problem with the dots, didn't really expect one, just a matter of holding that dot on the target and keeping it there while I pull the trigger. Taking that extra tenth of a second on the far target makes a world of difference - as does remembering to really clamp down with my support hand.

Iron sights at 25 yards was, um, interesting. Tried out three different slides, finally settled on a G17 with stock sights. I was getting five alphas and a charlie when I took a little time. Really need to take that little bit of time and make the shot.

Ended up going through 150 rounds of my reloads, and another 150 or so of factory ammo that I keep in the truck as backup. It was worth it, nice focused practice.

Shooting Sunday, so I'll try to go back to the range once more to do it again Wednesday or Thursday.
 
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